AUSTIN | Seven | 263 FT | 24 FLOORS | Complete

[The ATX]

What's up with that huge line at the Star Bar?

[KevinFromTexas]

[KevinFromTexas]

http://issuu.com/rhodepartners/docs/...933470/3962130




http://issuu.com/rhodepartners/docs/...933470/3962130

[corvairkeith]

1-22-13

[MichaelB]

I just noticed in the renderings that the side of the pool is glass.
you'll see that from 6th.
Nice touch.

[KevinFromTexas]

That should be cool at night when the pool is lit. It'll act like an accent lighting on the building.

[lzppjb]

Yeah, that's very cool.

How many guys will be on the street with binoculars looking up at the bikini-clad ladies? Pervs.

[NYC2ATX]

This is going to have a great silhouette with that angled side. I must say, the capitol view corridors are one of the most unique, dynamic planning initiatives I've seen come out of any city. Yes, they can be limiting, but not only do they preserve views of Austin's first and foremost landmark building (I know, no kidding ), but they've given us these adapted building designs that would otherwise just be nondescript boxes.

...and consider too, it'll keep the skyline from becoming congested to the point that you can never see through to the horizon. You may say "who cares", but take it from a New Yorker...for some, it's a rare treat to see open sky.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

This is going to have a great silhouette with that angled side. I must say, the capitol view corridors are one of the most unique, dynamic planning initiatives I've seen come out of any city. Yes, they can be limiting, but not only do they preserve views of Austin's first and foremost landmark building (I know, no kidding ), but they've given us these adapted building designs that would otherwise just be nondescript boxes.

...and consider too, it'll keep the skyline from becoming congested to the point that you can never see through to the horizon. You may say "who cares", but take it from a New Yorker...for some, it's a rare treat to see open sky.

Exactly! People who complain about the view corridors as being limiting (and I don't mean this is a derogatory way... really) most likely don't know what they're talking about. A city needs variety, preservation, street level retail, public transportation, etc. and the view corridors are en excellent example of setting standards that will prove to be more valuable than people may imagine in the long run.

This building has a rather bland design if you really look at it (Austin has much better), but because of the view corridors it won't be a simple square box.

[Syndic]

I have to chime in in agreement here. It doesn't take much creativity or originality to create a city with similar-sized buildings in every neighborhood. That's not very charming or attractive. Just like a flat landscape isn't interesting, a uniform city isn't interesting. When you have a diversity of building sizes, all in the same area, it doesn't just create different views, it also creates a different feel, from ground-level and from higher up. It also insures a variation of rental prices. Quite simply, a graded urban topography makes for a more complete city and designating certain landmarks as protected preserves the essential identity of a city as it grows. I wouldn't want it any other way. If we were allowed to forget who we are as a city, we could easily forget who we are as people. Then, we would truly not have kept Austin weird. But we are and that's really, really cool, IMO.

[hereinaustin]

Originally Posted by Syndic

I have to chime in in agreement here. It doesn't take much creativity or originality to create a city with similar-sized buildings in every neighborhood. That's not very charming or attractive. Just like a flat landscape isn't interesting, a uniform city isn't interesting. When you have a diversity of building sizes, all in the same area, it doesn't just create different views, it also creates a different feel, from ground-level and from higher up. It also insures a variation of rental prices. Quite simply, a graded urban topography makes for a more complete city and designating certain landmarks as protected preserves the essential identity of a city as it grows. I wouldn't want it any other way. If we were allowed to forget who we are as a city, we could easily forget who we are as people. Then, we would truly not have kept Austin weird. But we are and that's really, really cool, IMO.

You guys are ignoring the reality that if you further reduce the availability of land that can be used for dense development you drive up costs on the remaining parcels. Those higher costs end up translating into higher rents for businesses and individuals; there's no way to deny that. I think the CVCs are fine in several corridors, but there are some unnecessary ones that do more harm than good.

[NYC2ATX]

Originally Posted by hereinaustin

You guys are ignoring the reality that if you further reduce the availability of land that can be used for dense development you drive up costs on the remaining parcels. Those higher costs end up translating into higher rents for businesses and individuals; there's no way to deny that. I think the CVCs are fine in several corridors, but there are some unnecessary ones that do more harm than good.

You make a valid point. I was just looking at a map of the CVCs and the East Side of town in particular has major overlays all over. As the UT Research Campus and the parts of the Waller Creek corridor further from Lady Bird Lake develop and mature, there will no doubt be challenges, and the city will have to way the pros and cons carefully (I think the one designated solely for a threeish-block stretch of I-35 could probably shrink or be tossed out).

Fortunately right now, Austin still has plenty of land left to develop, but as time goes on and density further becomes the way of the world in the city's core, such challenges will no doubt come up...but these also present opportunities for growth elsewhere, giving a unified urban fabric far and wide. How about taller towers in West Campus? Ten or twenty more Corazons on the East Side? All the land still in open season on Lamar and Burnet? The evolution of the Domain, Mueller, Highland Mall, or even Southpark Meadows into nodal cores elsewhere in the city (transit improvements part and parcel)? Downtown will always have a certain cache, but truly urban cities are urban throughout.

For me, urban dawn may have hit Austin already, but it's still mid-morning.

[NYC2ATX]

One more thing I just thought of that would be just deliriously awesome. You guys may have heard of something that happens every year twice a year here in New York, it's called Manhattanhenge. Here's the wikipedia page about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattanhenge

Picture the sun setting (or rising) right on the capitol dome and also framed by skyscrapers. Yes, please.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

One more thing I just thought of that would be just deliriously awesome. You guys may have heard of something that happens every year twice a year here in New York, it's called Manhattanhenge. Here's the wikipedia page about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattanhenge

Picture the sun setting (or rising) right on the capitol dome and also framed by skyscrapers. Yes, please.

If my wife doesn't get her way and change our annual trip to ny to fall this year, I should be in town the last week in May. I'll try to catch that view. It will never happen here.

[lzppjb]

Valentine's Day 2014

[Urbannizer]

2/15

[H2O]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

2/15

Nice light!

[corvairkeith]

Today.

[LoneStarMike]

March 1, 2013

[KevinFromTexas]

They should be raising the crane on this by next weekend.