Federal Courthouse, Austin Texas

[Mopacs]

[Saddle Man]

I'd say more dumbass than smartass.

[TexasStar]

How exactly did Intel get away with walking away from the project and leaving such a huge eyesore in the first place?

[JAM]

Originally Posted by sakyle04

Who's more annoying? Loft dwellers or jail bait?
John Kelso
Sunday, February 11, 2007

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...1/11kelso.html


So the big philosophical question is this: Who would you rather have as a downtown neighbor: a group of self-absorbed egocentric Wi-Fi weirdos on MySpace? Or a bunch of crooks whose space is fixing to be 6 feet by 9 feet with a toilet in the middle?

Did he say 6 x 9 ???:

@ PRISON
@ WORK

you spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell
you spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle


you get three meals a day fully paid for
you get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it


you get time off for good behavior
you get more work for good behavior


the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you
you must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself


you can watch TV and play games
you could get fired for watching TV and playing games


you get your own toilet
you have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat


they allow your family and friends to visit
you aren't even supposed to speak to your family


all expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required
you get to pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners, and welfare


you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out
you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars


you must deal with sadistic wardens
they are called managers

[bluedogok]

Kelso's commentary has become more "mean spirited" since his wife died a couple of years ago, I remember one of his columns talking about how she always read over his column before submitting it. He is just one of those "old Austin" people that don't want change, they want it to stay the "Austin that they remember" and still be the small city that it once was.

[KevinFromTexas]

^ There's nothing wrong with that kind of thinking so long as it doesn't get in the way of progress. I'm in the camp to where I would hope that everything that makes Austin unique can be kept intact, but have it uniquely mold together with the new. I've lived here since I was born, my dad and his family moved to the United States from Germany in 1956, (Houston first, then to Austin 5 years later). My mom's side of the family has been living here since atleast the early 1920s.

[Gallup]

Lets build a courthouse. There are tons and tons of available lots for those nasty little developers who should be out of the city and in the suburbs like good little developers. Wasting the trees that get in their way and building in areas where there is nothing for miles and miles around. I cant believe any of you would want to build up in the NE part of downtown when this area very well MIGHT be the next boom. We should build it over the Intel shell to help stifle the present boom. Duh. Picture the big empty spaces and the long blank walls. Yummy- its like the seventies all over again man. The gov did us a big favor by buying this and keeping it the way it is long enough to get the pent up demand that the area felt was coming and then saying no to the local gov and people who want to utilize its potential. Anyway its not like the gov could possibly use the next 2+ years it has until it wants to actually do something with this site to look for another suitable site. That would just be silly.

[Gallup]

Pardon the sarcasm but it is time to get real. The land is limited. The areas where this courthouse is suitable outnumber the areas where truly high-rise development is suitable by 5 to 1. I can sympathize with those of you who simply want to see something done and view the Courthouse as our savior in a time of need but they are building in a spot that should be better utilized with a different use. We will get what we get but if we are stuck with a courthouse you will all see how much of a misfit it will be in the area. It surely won’t add to what is going on it is truly a net negative gain for us all.

[texboy]

Well to be honest, I feel that Austin has lost some of its "Austin-ness". The old quirky buildings are being replaced by these huge glass behemoths (albeit in the name of slowing sprawl which I totally agree with)...so its kind of bittersweet in a way. And as for the stuck uppies in highrises, well just go to Dallas to see how not humble the loft dwellers are there.... and you can get some sense of this guys view point....lets just hope the disease doesn't spread south to the capitol.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by texboy

Well to be honest, I feel that Austin has lost some of its "Austin-ness". The old quirky buildings are being replaced by these huge glass behemoths (albeit in the name of slowing sprawl which I totally agree with)...so its kind of bittersweet in a way. And as for the stuck uppies in highrises, well just go to Dallas to see how not humble the loft dwellers are there.... and you can get some sense of this guys view point....lets just hope the disease doesn't spread south to the capitol.

Actually Kevin, I have a project for you: what buildings have gone away for new buildings? I know I can have selective memories, but as I recall, "most of the new building have replaced parking lots, Old car dealers and non-historical warehouses. The tow excetions I can think of is the warhouse where the first AMLI was, and Liberty's lunch. Other than that we have been filling in what was torn down in the 80's!

OK here is what I recall:
Whole foods: car dealership
By George building (name) car dealership
Austin City lofts : car dealership
Monarch: car dealership (one time music store.... one time roving imports store that was at another vancant lot before that
City Hall..... old really bad city hall
Block 21 and new AMLI..... unused warhouses.... not historical....city owned and falling down.
AMLI #1..... OK, that one I miss... cool warehouse
Frost bank. Bus terminal turned bank..... saved Mexicarte.....oh and lost a gay bar in that one, damn.
AltaVida..... parking lot
SHore: warehouse
Hilton?
Four seasons: parking lot

The Whitley property..... big black , ugly eye-sore....

OK Kev, pick it up from there.....

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

OK here is what I recall:
Whole foods: car dealership
Frost bank. Bus terminal turned bank..... saved Mexicarte.....oh and lost a gay bar in that one, damn.

Interesting list! Here are some that I recall...

Whole Foods I believe was McMorris Ford. Frost Bank site also housed the old Oscar Snowden's applicances for many many years!...plus a Greek restaurant as I recall (there was an article about it in the statesman early this decade, just before the building was torn down).

Others:

-100 Congress - Kevin..correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the 100 Congress site once home to Matt's El Rancho?

-Extended Stay America hotel - I believe this was the site of the old Alamo Motel.

-One American Center site used to house a Woolworth five-and-dime.

-UT Tower - replaced "Old Main" building.

I'll think of more as the day goes on...

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Frost bank. Bus terminal turned bank..... saved Mexicarte.....oh and lost a gay bar in that one, damn.

Well, I'm not really a an expert in this area unfortunately. I only know of a few actually.

One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road, 180 foot, 13-story office tower - This was the site of the beloved Armadillo World Headquarters which was one of Austin's most famous and early music halls. This was probably one of the greatest losses, though, it wasn't directly caused by the new development. I'm using Wikipedia as a reference here . The building wasn't torn down exclusively for One Texas Center, though and it wasn't exactly a work of art. It was an old National Guard armory building built in 1948. The Armadillo World Headquarters had closed in 1980 because they went bankrupt. The building set vacant for a little while but was demolished sometime around 1981 I believe. One Texas Center broke ground around that time and was completed in 1983. Last year the City of Austin and the former owners and founders of the Armadillo put up a plaque at the site to commemorate the place. The Armadillo was a very popular hangout for all kinds of people, everyone from hippies to cowboys. Even local and state politicians hung out there. The future mayor of Austin, then State Comptroller, Carole Keeton McClellan, hung out there as well believe or not! The place was notorious for Marijuana use, even the police knew this but never made a raid on the place since many of their fellow officers and local and state politicians. Remember, this was the Austin of the 70s. The Armadillo had a long list of famous musicians who played there. AC/DC's first North American gig was played at the Armadillo World Headquarters in 1977. My oldest cousin actually went to that concert. The B-52's, Count Basie, Ray Charles, The Clash, Jerry Garcia Band, (Hell yes), The Big Bopper, Willie Nelson, (of course), Bob Seger, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Frank Zappa. Man the list goes on and on.

Of course the other great loss was the Old Main at the University of Texas being torn down only 35 years after it was built to make way for the UT Tower. To this day it is the tallest building to ever be demolished in Austin.

[MichaelB]

Actually, for me, it was about the current building boom and realizing we have not lost much in the process. Most of the building that have either gone up recently, are the the process or proposed are filling in empty or unused spaces. Even the big "evil Marriot" is filling up 70-75% empty lots.
Just to assure folks who don't live here that, at this point, it mostly all those long time empty lots downtown that are going away. I think that is a big plus.

It will be interesting to see how long before we get into the position of loosing other "treasured" proprties. I suppose that concern is more to the east and south at this point. But again, as I think thru projects, most (not all) are not displacing anything I would consider a minus. THere are some, Maybe this is a new thread.... or not!

[KevinFromTexas]

My mom of all people actually commented on being opposed to new projects displacing retail businesses. She's not exactly a proponent of downtown either. She talked about a project that she heard about on the news that was being proposed by Gables. They're planning to demolish the Poke Joe's on 5th Street along with a furniture store and some other business. She said she'd be opposed to store owners being forced out of their building for a new development. I told her that they're only forced after their lease is up. I said that renters don't own the building, or the land it sits on, and since they don't they don't have much say about their stay at that location.

Something else to point out here is that yes, some businesses and even *gasp* music clubs and bars might be forced to move. I doubt anything around the music entertainment districts like 6th Street and even in the Warehouse District will be forced to move, though since those areas are already well established nodes of downtown entertainment and an attraction for visitors and residents. Also even the retail and clubs that are forced to move will be replaced later on. Once the downtown population increases, up to 25,000 people living there, there will be a large demand for everything from grocery stores to music clubs.