Quote:
Originally Posted by Tech House
Well said. I've been feeling this a lot in the past few months, especially since returning from a second consecutive summer in the northwest. As Austin's skyline becomes more interesting, its "groundline" is becoming more off-putting, There is a warmth and welcoming feel to older cities where streets are lined with non-stop storefronts that are unbroken by driveways and other dead spaces. The retail spaces offered by these monoliths are cold and generic. What is being razed and phased out of Austin is taking all sense of place and culture with it, only to be replaced by mass-produced concrete and steel boxes that have no relationship to the stores that come to inhabit them. It's a big disconnect, and I'm increasingly feeling like it's time to disconnect from Austin and go hug trees in the NW with my fellow aging hippies.
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I don't know that I agree with that assessment. Look at the street interaction with the JW Marriott. A block that was basically dead is buzzing with activity. Even 3rd @ Colorado which is just an office tower has boosted that area with a lot more pedestrians than before and the businesses along 3rd between Cesar Chavez and 4th is benefitting from it.
In fact if you consider that less than 10 years ago there was no 2nd Street Retail District, no street interaction of any kind in that area. When you consider that West End was nothing to what it is today. The Warehouse District was just starting to be up and coming, west 6th was still fairly quiet with few clubs and bars starting to pop up. There were not as many places to shop let alone small corner neighborhood stores every couple of blocks such as Blue Ribbon. Add all of that plus the 11,000 residents that call Downtown Austin home and it is more vibrant than ever before.
The challenge now is making sure our club districts stay in tact and I will be one of those pushing the city to make sure that is one of the top priorities.
But let's get real... Most (not all...), but most of what has been built and what is being built has been either on surface lots or on underutilized empty lots. In fact I'm suprised this particular project is stirring up a conversation like this. I mean there is nothing there at all and there was nothing but a parking lot to begin with before they tore it up. It's dead space sitting in an increasingly busy part of DT. It's not taking anything away.
The thing is Austin never really had non stop storefronts and tree lined streets at least since 1980 when I was born. Downtown wasn't much in the 80s and 90s. Wasn't until the 2000s that it began to transform and what we have now is 1,000 times more than we did then.