AUSTIN Metro Update Thread

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Tech House

The Austin area is going to be the Orlando of Texas, minus the occasional toddler-gobbling alligator and rampaging homophobic Islamic terrorist. We need to hang on to Formula One, it's just ahead of its time but its time will soon be here.

Never know. Who would have thought Orlando would be a target?

I do know I have a CHL and am not afraid to use it if that situation happened in my presence.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

Never know. Who would have thought Orlando would be a target?

I do know I have a CHL and am not afraid to use it if that situation happened in my presence.

You have a Canadian Hockey League?? I want one!
We may end up with more attractions than Orlando, but collectively they won't match what draws people to them in the first place, Disney. I still say the only thing RR has going for it is this huge piece of land in nowheresville. This company should change plans and set it out by COTA or the Inland Surf Park, which btw still isn't open yet and was supposed to be by spring 2016. I would love to see a plethora of entertainment parks go up in that area, like a theme park, drag strip, film studios, major fair grounds, ect...
Hiding it in the shity of RR doesn't make sense to me.
That being said, I'm anxious to see some renderings of this project.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by the Genral

This company should change plans and set it out by COTA or the Inland Surf Park.

This is actually a great idea. Closer to the airport, closer to the SA side of city traffic. Closer to downtown amenities.

I'm assuming RR is offering a boatload of incentives.

[Tech House]

Originally Posted by We vs us

I'm assuming RR is offering a boatload of incentives.

That would be useful information. Hopefully we'll soon get a guided tour of the machinations rumbling around in the brains behind Kalahari, since it's pretty obvious that nothing is obvious about choosing Round Rock. A destination resort in RR. Yeah, I'm not gonna invest in that, but best of luck to them.

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by Tech House

They're planning to spend upwards of a quarter BILLION $$ on this thing, so they must have quite an ambitious vision for what will become of that area.

I wonder if they looked into buying out Hawaiian Falls and attaching that to the larger vacant adjacent property. They'd have their outdoor features ready to go and would only need to develop the indoor portions, plus they'd eliminate a competitor. But they might need more land than that. The Hawaiian Falls owners must be weeping all over their well-worn Bibles after hearing about this. Seems to me that if Kalahari is done well and isn't significantly more expensive, it will doom HF, but I guess it's possible that HF could survive as a low-cost alternative, though they'd probably have to drop their prices and change their target demographics and come up with a different marketing strategy. Alternatively, they could get even MORE religious and then start rumors that Kalahari is run by devil worshippers. That's not very far-fetched if you're familiar with HF's "Jesus loves free-market evangelical capitalism" pitch. Put up more Bible quotes on the rides and offer group memberships to area churches. It's Texas, it could work.

The Austin area is going to be the Orlando of Texas, minus the occasional toddler-gobbling alligator and rampaging homophobic Islamic terrorist. We need to hang on to Formula One, it's just ahead of its time but its time will soon be here.

That title has gone to San Antonio.

[Tech House]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

That title has gone to San Antonio.

True dat. I'll revise: central Texas is going to be the central Florida of Texas. Hmm, that doesn't flow from the tongue very smoothly, but it's more accurate than my prior statement.

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by Tech House

True dat. I'll revise: central Texas is going to be the central Florida of Texas. Hmm, that doesn't flow from the tongue very smoothly, but it's more accurate than my prior statement.

It's cool Tech House, I'll just messing with ya. Lol guess we can say both now since Austin climbed it's way up.

[clubtokyo]

Has this been posted??
Domain is getting fancy! Very excited about some of these stores:

Here’s a list of the retailers who will be in Domain Northside:

18/8 Fine Men’s Salon
Archer Hotel Austin
Culinary Dropout
Cyclone Anaya’s
Design Within Reach
Eliza Page
Flower Child
FRYE Boots
Kiehl’s
Marine Layer
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
Nordstrom
Paul Martin’s American Grill
PIRCH
Planet Blue
RH, Restoration Hardware
Saint Bernard Sports
Second Bar + Kitchen
Sephora
SoulCycle
Suitsupply
Sur La Table
Teddies for Bettys
Will Leather Goods
Yard House

[the Genral]

What? No Walmart? No HEB?

[Jdawgboy]

I'm kinda surprised they chose RR for a development like that as well. It would make more sense to be closer to the airport. Even with SH 130, it's a good distance. I also would not choose to vacation in RR lol.

[ivanwolf]

The Domain was ok when it started and was less busy. Now that you have all the stores spread apart in three locations and all the apartments and hotels in that area is just slammed with crazy drivers and walkers running across streets. It's gotten to where I dred going there to get around. Very poor design in my opinion.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by ivanwolf

The Domain was ok when it started and was less busy. Now that you have all the stores spread apart in three locations and all the apartments and hotels in that area is just slammed with crazy drivers and walkers running across streets. It's gotten to where I dred going there to get around. Very poor design in my opinion.

I agree about the design and layout. They are trying to create this "second DT" mentality but it is far from it. It doesn't natually tie into the surrounding area, it feels separate and cut off. Mass transit options are severely lacking. Crossing some of the streets on foot can be a challenge. It's too cookie cutter and steral. Rock Rose is a nice little entertainment district and it serves it's purpose as a close to home option for those that live in the area but my biggest issue with it (and it's a silly issue but ironically true) If you are going to name a street or entertainment district after a native plant endemic to this area, the least they could do is actually plant Rock Roses along the sides. I did not see one Rock Rose plant when I walked through there a couple of weeks ago. I have several Rock Roses in my yard, beutiful and hardy I might add, a great addition to any yard or outdoor space.

[clubtokyo]

Oh lord, it is not hard to navigate in the Domain. I do it everyday, and some evenings just fine. I have many in friends in bigger cities than Austin and every time they visit they always want to visit the Domain. I really wish Austinites would stop with the "its not in downtown/central Austin" attitude. Get over it, the Domain is a success and continues to grow and stay busy. If it does not work for you, then fine, don't go.

[the Genral]

According to the latest Round Rock edition of the Community Impact, Kalahari resort is coming to RR. The article said it would be similar to the design of the Sanduski, Ohio Kalahari resort. I pulled a photo of that resort from familyvaction.com. So it appears to consist of a connected cluster of six story buildings along with a relatively unattractive warehouse type building housing the indoor water park. From this picture it looks like they prefer a more rural setting very simular to the parcel across from the Dell Diamond which bodes well for them for having a captive audience at the RR site selection. I rarely travel by there so I don't care either way about this, but I am intrigued and will probably check out the progress once it gets started in 3 years. I will say that an indoor water park, even a huge one has zero appeal to me. Seems extraordinarily artificial. I don't see any skylights to bring natural light in. But I guess if Sandusky, Ohio can have one, why not Round Rock? Never even heard of Sandusky before today, but I just learned a) it has a population of around 25k and b) they have a theme park with the largest number of roller coasters in the US. Closet cities are Toledo and Cleveland. We have over 900k and Hawaiian Falls...maybe if they build it, Austin will come. Btw, I don't know when this picture was taken or time of year, but I see plenty of empty parking spaces.

[ivanwolf]

Ugly, that's worse than I expected!

[drummer]

This is basically the same as the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine.

[KevinFromTexas]

That's a Walmart style resort. It looks more like a prison for the rich (note the water slides).

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

That's a Walmart style resort. It looks more like a prison for the rich (note the water slides).

YES! It actually even resembles the Walmart just up the street at 79 and Red Bud.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by drummer

This is basically the same as the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine.

I just checked that out. Geez, even these mega resorts are cookie cutter.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I just checked that out. Geez, even these mega resorts are cookie cutter.

Yep. But let's be honest - that fits with Round Rock. All things considered, I think this would be good for Round Rock. It's something that suburban families would flock to and out-of-towners would probably take advantage of as well (on what scale, I don't know). The location isn't horrible since it's not too far off of 130, and it could truly add to the area in a way that could spur more development on 79...hopefully smart development, but we'll see.