January 24, 2007
Austonian Colossus to Rise Over Congress
Benchmark Development has supposedly begun sales of the planned 155 condos in what they are now calling "The Austonian" (the website is now up). The current plan is a 700 foot tall, 55 story tower of condo power above what appears to be (and had better be) ground floor retail on the corner of Congress and Second Street (across Congress from the current location of Las Manitas - BTW, word is that Las Mas will be moving into the landmarked structure nearby owned by the current proprietors, with a healthy retro-fit subsidy from the newly created Congress Avenue Retail Retention and Enhancement Fund).
The Austonian is ... tall and has a funny shape. The materials look nicer than they were in the prior iteration, but judging materials by these renderings is a dicey proposition. To the developer: glass is good. Preferably with some UV filtering, cuz those top floors are going to be right up against the sun. The planned "illuminated architectural feature" for the top sounds scary, but it might make it easier for the aliens to find us from space, so that's nice. The developers appear to have squeezed an additional seven stories into the plan (previous indications were that the tower would be 48 stories), while maintaining a height of 700 feet, but that probably has something to do with math, so we'll let it go.
Update: the website is up with groovy pics. Samples after the jump.
Image from Benchmark Development and Cooper-Ziegler Architects.
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Is it just me, or does the top of that tower make it look like a retractable pen?
Worst name ever.
Kneel before Zahd!
I'm sick of reading 'Austonian'. Whoever named that building is not from Austin, but probably Houston.
I think it looks like a Cylon.
I HOPE THEY HAVE BIG AND DEEP DUMPSTERS AND I HOPE THEY HAVE A BURGER KING.
The Statesman article says that 1200 sq. ft units start at $500,000, and that a nearly identical project is being planned at 5th and Congress too.
I'm no real estate expert, but I suspect that high end downtown condos are not the best investment going forward.
I nearly peed myself in excitement over the phrase "ground level retail." Austin is quickly becoming almost like Venice, if Venice were stocked with shitty clothing stores, overpriced turquoise and pink knick-knacks for contemptible yuppies, and phallic monoliths that remind me of the not-too-distant-future if said future were envisioned in 1971.
I like the building, I think it's nice. I just wish it wasn't being built on Congress Ave. They need to spread them out a little. The capital is such a beautiful building, I hate for it to be over shadowed by yet another giant.
Looks like it'll house the Eye of Sauron.
Frickin' hubris. Gotta love it.
They should name it 'Austinite'. Or 'Dolomite'.
Tarvin - That's what it reminds me of! So now we'll have buildings reminding me of "Lord of the Rings" and "Batman" (Frost Tower).
Better than a parking lot.
They forgot the groovey neon tubes on the neighboring buildings on the night shot. Maybe they should run some neon on the new building and really make it look like 1980s Houston.
"If downtown becomes an urban Aspen or Vail, an exclusive enclave filled with $800,000 condos, chain stores and high-end boutiques, then it becomes a challenge to justify public attention to, and enormous taxpayer investments in, downtown."
I guess we know who their target market is. Check out what you get when you click on their "Equal Housing Opportunity" link. This is seriously on their website:
"EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY; WARNING: THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE HAS NOT INSPECTED, EXAMINED OR QUALIFIED THIS OFFERING."
i say we REFUSE to call it that pratty pretentious name. i vote for Sauron Tower or Temple of Gozer.
The Frost Bank Tower (or as I call it, the Pointy Building) is more of a Superman thing than a Batman thing. It's also the only place we'll be able to be safe when the Canadian zeppelin armada attacks.
"The Austonian" - stupid name; great project. Like somebody else already noted, it's a parking lot today. But of course, hippies all over town are wailing and gnashing their teeth.
No, no, no. The Frost Bank looks like an oversized nose trimmer. How bout we change The Austonian to The Tower of the Screaming Yuppies?
"The Statesman article says that 1200 sq. ft units start at $500,000, and that a nearly identical project is being planned at 5th and Congress too."
The difference between the two is that the 5th & Congress project is a stunning architectural masterpiece designed by Cesar Pelli, one of the world's leading architects, and it will only have condos on the top five or six floors. The Austonian is the urban-density equivalent of a Toll Brothers McMansion in the suburbs.
My realtor friends and I are already taking bets on how many years it'll take for the place to hit 80% occupancy, assuming they don't lower their price points. I suspect this will be as big a white elephant as the condos at the Hilton, which are still 40% empty in the upper section three years after its completion.
"I suspect this will be as big a white elephant as the condos at the Hilton, which are still 40% empty in the upper section three years after its completion."
This is what I like to hear.
jmk -
bingo...probably will not even get built.
Dear last couple of geniuses:
IF the condo market collapses, then it becomes affordable (more, at least) to live downtown. How is this a downside for those of us not currently living in the swanky lofts? Personally, I hope they keep building condo after condo after condo - I'd much rather see them build twice as many as needed than half as many.
The condo I bought in Clarksville in the mid 1990s was still very cheap, all things considered, precisely because of the 1980s-early-1990s condospasm. Worked out great for me.
I love when people who can't afford stuff complain about that stuff.
To me, it looks kinda like the Library Tower (US Bank Tower) in Los Angeles. Being from L.A. I think it'll make me feel more at home if built.
It upsets me that this thing is being built. The city I grew up in isn't even recognizable anymore. I think the building should be called Craptopolis, Feces One, or the Stevie Ray Vaughn Statue Building.
Holy Shiznit, this thing is going to totally ruin my office view of Zilker, Rollingwood, and the hills beyond. (SW Office at NE corner of 3rd & Congress, mid-ways up the building)
I should take some time-lapse pictures of the thing going up.