2111 Austin: Multifamily At 2111 Austin St.

[Luminare]

2 hours ago, cspwal said:

The stone looks nice in person.  I'll withhold judgement on how good the facade is until we can see the cladding for the upper floors

 

One thing is for sure, they have built this in record time.

[hindesky]

[Highrise Tower]

 

[dbigtex56]

Is this project now officially called 2111 Austin, or is there a more fanciful name waiting in the wings?

[hindesky]

[phillip_white]

Brick is going up:

 

 

[MarathonMan]

Yay!  Brick instead of stucco!

[thatguysly]

I am thinking this will turn out very nice

[phillip_white]

From a better vantage point (taken today):

 

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

Tower crane is coming down, was headed up Travis into downtown and saw the Consolidated crane in the distance.

[hindesky]

Tower gone.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

Brick is looking good.

[cspwal]

That turned out nice

[CaptainJilliams]

Wow, just blinked and now the facade looks like it's almost done on one side. Agreed, looking much better than I thought it would. 

[MarathonMan]

2 hours ago, CaptainJilliams said:

Wow, just blinked and now the facade looks like it's almost done on one side. Agreed, looking much better than I thought it would. 

I agree.  It looks nice.  But I still think the light brick on bottom doesn’t go with the red brick above.  A larger, smooth limestone brick would have been better.

[BeerNut]

On 8/19/2019 at 12:58 PM, MarathonMan said:

I agree.  It looks nice.  But I still think the light brick on bottom doesn’t go with the red brick above.  A larger, smooth limestone brick would have been better.

 

Hopefully they keep it clean.

[Luminare]

That keystone at the top is still pretty pathetic.

[Response]

No. It's all good.

[BigFootsSocks]

I disagree I think I’ve pooped things pretty than this but to each their own and I respect your opinion

[Response]

Thank you, but you can keep your poop all to yourself. I can smell your opinion from here. 😷

 

I don't have any problems with this building. It certainly is no prize, but I know it's definitely moving Midtown in the right direction and it's better looking than anything built on any of the adjacent blocks (at least for now). I may learn to hate this building more in the future if Caydon takes over the rest of Midtown and everything starts looking like Laneways and Drewery Place. But until then Midtown could do much worse and HAS done much worse than this building - or maybe you'd prefer another suburban style CVS on this block too. 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Response

[Luminare]

13 minutes ago, Response said:

Thank you, but you can keep your poop all to yourself. I can smell your opinion from here. 😷

 

I don't have any problems with this building. It certainly is no prize, but I know it's definitely moving Midtown in the right direction and it's better looking than anything built on any of the adjacent blocks (at least for now). I may learn to hate this building more in the future if Caydon takes over the rest of Midtown and everything starts looking like Laneways and Drewery Place. But until then Midtown could do much worse and HAS done much worse than this building - or maybe you'd prefer another suburban style CVS on this block too. 

 

I don't think any of us are questioning that this isn't good for Midtown. The more the merrier. We have a lot of lots to fill, and this is just the first step.

 

That being said, I am in the profession, I'm trained in aesthetics because that is my job, and so I don't hold any punches when it comes to these things. The Keystones are pathetic. I like the white stone on the bottom, but its proportionally to small and makes the building look top heavy. If they went with a style more contemporary then that would be different, but when you slap architectural cornices, and other classical elements in the manner which they did its just lazy. I like the stone color and I like the brick. Everything else feels undersized and pathetic. The circular windows at the top are also very awkward.

 

Again other than my opinion aesthetically, objectively what is here now is better than what was here before which was just a blank lot.

[Response]

Cheer up. It's not that bad. The positives far outweigh the negatives. Personal taste issues like keystones, brick colors, top heaviness and the non-contemporary style of this building are nothing compared to the pathetic buildings that are just across the street in any direction. Although I wouldn't have chosen this building style or look out of a catalog, this building is far down my list of buildings to complain about in Midtown. I think at this point with so many buildings I'd love to see replaced in the area, I'm just focusing on whether a building is helping or hurting Midtown. This one is definitely helping Midtown regardless of whether or not every detail meets with one's personal taste or style. 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Response

[X.R.]

I just noticed this thread was began in...2012. Wtf. Any solid idea of when this would be completed? Seems to be end of 2019. I had to dig through this thread to find this chronicle article where they explained their reasoning https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Houston-developer-starts-long-awaited-Midtown-13038743.php:

The Houston-based apartment development and management company broke ground on one of two blocks it acquired in October 2013 just south of the Pierce Elevated at Austin. It initially planned to start the development in October 2016.

“We put it on hold because of the soft economy of Houston then, and also there was a lot of supply of apartments,” said Frederic Gautier-Winther, head of Winther Investment.

“A year and 9 months later, we feel like the economy of Houston is stronger than what we thought and also there’s been a good absorption of apartments.”

That confession at the end makes them sound...dumb. "Our analysts were pretty wrong, and you know, like, we thought we might have to make this a parking lot...but we fired those guys and the new analysts were like yo Camden and Pearl have been building and building so...wtf were y'all doing?"

 

But on the topic of its prettiness:

"Rents will start around $1,300, Gautier-Winther said. Units will average 830 square feet with mostly one-bedroom plans. There will be a few three-bedroom units and efficiencies, in addition to two-bedroom plans designed for professionals." 

 

For 1300 a month, I think its a pretty great looking building. The brick kind of matches some of the older townhouses in the area. Yeah the look is dated, but the top cap thing makes it look like it belongs to an older dorm you'd see at Rice or SMU (which can be both good or bad, depending if you like that stuff). 

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by X.R.

[Luminare]

6 hours ago, Response said:

Thank you, but you can keep your poop all to yourself. I can smell your opinion from here. 😷

 

I don't have any problems with this building. It certainly is no prize, but I know it's definitely moving Midtown in the right direction and it's better looking than anything built on any of the adjacent blocks (at least for now). I may learn to hate this building more in the future if Caydon takes over the rest of Midtown and everything starts looking like Laneways and Drewery Place. But until then Midtown could do much worse and HAS done much worse than this building - or maybe you'd prefer another suburban style CVS on this block too. 

 

And this is normally my position.

 

This development doesn't get much favors from me aesthetic wise because its taken so long to build. This was originally conceived earlier in the decade, and the aesthetics show. This style was very popular 10-15 years ago when multifamily was really starting to make headway in this town. This style is a very safe and easy entry into a market that was full of unknowns at the time. A similar example would be one of Camdens earlier projects next to Midtown Park (not the newest one, but across the street). Again if the aesthetic is done in that way it looks dated really quickly. Luckily Camden has been able to evolve from that and do better. I will say the same with this company once they start on the next one. Hopefully they up their game aesthetically when the build on the block next door. I've also defended Camdens earlier entry that looks like this build because it was built in that era, so its easier to forgive. These people waited 8-10 years to build this, and had a lot of time to study the market and see how tastes have changed, yet they build exactly what they drafted those years ago. I understand that there are other things that look worse than this, but is like saying the $hit I took today was better than the $hit I did yesterday...its still $hit. Looking forward to what they do next. Apparently the next block is going to be a tower. Time for them to really push their limits.

 

26 minutes ago, X.R. said:

I just noticed this thread was began in...2012. Wtf. Any solid idea of when this would be completed? Seems to be end of 2019. I had to dig through this thread to find this chronicle article where they explained their reasoning https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Houston-developer-starts-long-awaited-Midtown-13038743.php:

The Houston-based apartment development and management company broke ground on one of two blocks it acquired in October 2013 just south of the Pierce Elevated at Austin. It initially planned to start the development in October 2016.

“We put it on hold because of the soft economy of Houston then, and also there was a lot of supply of apartments,” said Frederic Gautier-Winther, head of Winther Investment.

“A year and 9 months later, we feel like the economy of Houston is stronger than what we thought and also there’s been a good absorption of apartments.”

That confession at the end makes them sound...dumb. "Our analysts were pretty wrong, and you know, like, we thought we might have to make this a parking lot...but we fired those guys and the new analysts were like yo Camden and Pearl have been building and building so...wtf were y'all doing?"

 

But on the topic of its prettiness:

"Rents will start around $1,300, Gautier-Winther said. Units will average 830 square feet with mostly one-bedroom plans. There will be a few three-bedroom units and efficiencies, in addition to two-bedroom plans designed for professionals." 

 

For 1300 a month, I think its a pretty great looking building. The brick kind of matches some of the older townhouses in the area. Yeah the look is dated, but the top cap thing makes it look like it belongs to an older dorm you'd see at Rice or SMU (which can be both good or bad, depending if you like that stuff). 

 

 

Its what separates the Hannovers, and Midways from a Camden, and then companys like this. They just need more experience. They need to take a harder look at this city and truly understand that it isn't the market that they think it is. Its more robust than they think it is. I'm glad they finally built this and got some experience in building in our market. Again like I said above, hopefully they grow from this and do even better next time...with out the faux cornices and keystones.

[Response]

Not saying you should love it or like it, but this building is NOT shit. Almost everything around it IS shit and there is a huge difference. I don't get your shit analogy at all on this one. It doesn't matter to me who built it or how long it took them or whether or not the market has changed or even if they didn't build it to my exact preferred taste. Visually, it's still a major improvement and makes Midtown better IMO. To use your shit analogy, I would say its more like being in possession of a perfectly healthy digestive system that only does what it is supposed to do as opposed to having a bad case of explosive diarrhea. Just like my internal plumbing, this building isn't glamorous, I won't be bragging about it to anyone. I'm just thankful it works and that it isn't leaving a huge mess everywhere (like the buildings across the street are). ☺️

 

Like everyone else, I want the best we can get. I'm not so sure that the market has changed so much that this isn't the best we could get in the here and now. Houston's economy is like skating on thin ice sometimes. I've seen enough booms and busts to know that this lot could have remained a grass field for the rest of my life. How many years old is the Regency Square proposal? I'm hoping for better buildings than this in Midtown in the future too, but I can't forget where we came from and where we are. And this building puts us in a better place than we were.

[Texasota]

You can acknowledge that a building is better than what was there before while still criticizing it, and this building is ...not great looking. It's not a matter of it looking "dated" either - just look at the very similar building at Hadley and Main. It references historical detailing (art deco in its case), but it just does a better job of it. It's not a great building either, and it's functionally identical to this one, but it looks quite a bit better because the detailing is just a bit more thoughtful and better integrated.

 

This building looks like bad 90s low-style postmodernism (so ok... maybe a bit dated, but only because that style itself was a misunderstanding of a reinterpretation/decontextualization of historical style). All of the detailing is just ...wrong. Except maybe for the first floor, but the first floor has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the building.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Texasota

[Luminare]

18 hours ago, Texasota said:

You can acknowledge that a building is better than what was there before while still criticizing it, and this building is ...not great looking. It's not a matter of it looking "dated" either - just look at the very similar building at Hadley and Main. It references historical detailing (art deco in its case), but it just does a better job of it. It's not a great building either, and it's functionally identical to this one, but it looks quite a bit better because the detailing is just a bit more thoughtful and better integrated.

 

This building looks like bad 90s low-style postmodernism (so ok... maybe a bit dated, but only because that style itself was a misunderstanding of a reinterpretation/decontextualization of historical style). All of the detailing is just ...wrong. Except maybe for the first floor, but the first floor has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the building.

 

Exactly. I'm also not criticizing to put down or be a dick. Again I'm glad that they finally got this done, but the compliments stop there. With how much growth that is going to happen in Midtown soon, its going to looked dated really quickly. Now if this was one of the first midrises to enter the scene then I would give it a lot more leeway. Its hard to enter a new market, but its much easier now. They are behind aesthetically speaking.

 

I will contend with your points about post-modernism. Its not that they misunderstood reinterpretation/decontextualization of historical styles...actually that was the whole point of post-modernism. Abstract and decontextualize to such a degree to where everything aesthetically becomes purely subjective. So in post-modernism, if I wanted to put an absurdly small keystone at the top of an absurdly tall vault, well that is just my based on my whim. Its entirely subjective because in post-modernism everything is relative, and there is no one way to do it (which in a deeper sense there is no one beauty to anything). However, with that being said, there were plenty of architects that knew how to judiciously play with ideas of post-modernism, but the greater consequence from post-modernism is that...most people aren't going to be that judicious. Instead it just made people lazy when implementing aesthetics. Going with ones whim and subjective feels became a cop-out for not putting in the work to get it right.

[Texasota]

^{No no that was my point. Bad 90's postmodernism is itself a misunderstanding of what postmodernism was trying to do. Non-judicious in your words.}

^{"Unintentional" works too. Lots of examples, like this building, where they clearly think they're reproducing a classical style but don't understand things like scale or context and end up doing ...this.}

Edited August 29, 2019 by Texasota