The Transformation of South Lamar
 

An interesting series of articles from the Austin Post on the upcoming changes planned for S. Lamar between Lady Bird Lake & Ben White.


Part One looks at the boulevard's car-culture history and changes that are being felt today.

Which Way Will Accelerating Development Drive South Lamar? (Part One)
By Rob Patterson
July 24, 2012

Part Two examines how businesses may fare through the transformation.

A Boon for Business? Where Will Development Drive South Lamar (Part Two)
By Rob Patterson
July 24, 2012

Part Three takes a longer view towards what the boulevard may become.

Getting from Here to There: Where Will Accelerating Development Drive South Lamar? (Part Three)
By Rob Patterson
July 24, 2012

(I love how Part three starts with:

:haha:

Earlier articles include:

South Lamar – Tomorrow’s Traffic Hell?
By Tim Ziegler
July 17, 2012

What's in Store for the North End of South Lamar?
By Stephanie Myers
July 18, 2012

Broken Spoke Strikes Seeming Win-Win Deal with Neighboring Apartment Developers
By Rob Patterson
July 19, 2012

I'll try & post websites and site plans for some of the projects mentioned in the articles.

Hanover South Lamar - 809 S. Lamar - 340 units

website

Rendering (from their website)

http://hanoverco.com/imagegen.ashx?class...7271/lamar_bldg_4nov2011_300dpi_9x17.jpg

Site Plan

I think I read somewhere that this project is supposed to break ground in October.

Gibson Flats - 1219 S. Lamar - 202 units

website

Rendering from their website:

http://www.ardent-residential.com/images/multifamily/gibson_flats/1new.jpg

Site Plan

(every page of the site plan is a separate pdf file)

This was a good thread to create. You should pool all the info about projects in this area into this thread.

Lamar Manchaca Residential - 2717 S. Lamar -323 units & 30 townhomes

website

Rendering from their website

http://www.centrodevelopment.com/images/lamar_01.jpg

site plan

Great thread. I'll have to go looking for their heights and post them here. I have to say, it's kind of overwhelming being able to find all the heights now. It's made me appreciate these smaller projects more and made me more aware of them.

There's a project at Lamar and Manchaca?

Edit: After looking through the site plan, that is a really well thought out design. I love the integration of VMU along the major thoroughfare but then stepped back more traditional apartments adjacent to the residential blocks. Very smart and very well integrated.

I think we need another thread like this for the North Burnet area as well given all the new projects in that corridor as well. In fact, we need master threads for South Lamar, South Congress, West Campus, North Burnet, and probably soon (but not yet) East Riverside.

:previous: Thanks guys. I live on S. Lamar just north of Ben White behind Brodie Oaks Shopping Center and every weekend I go downtown, I pass by all these places.

The 704 - 3103 S. Lamar - 378 units

site plan

Rendering (originally posted by JoninATX)

http://www.amstar.com/images/uploads/Americas-Multifamily-BrokenSpoke-Austin.jpg

source

Huge rendering from Transwestern originally posted by AusTxDevelopment

http://www.transwestern.net/Flyers/Austin/BuildingInfo/The-704-Rendering.jpg

So counting all these project plus Post Properties on the west side of South Lamar that's a few months away from being completed (298 units) that's 1541 units and 30 townhomes.

Last weekend, I noticed that at that one car dealership (Harbison Auto Sales) the lot was completely empty and there was a sign that it was available for property development. I don't know how to post street view images from google, but the address was 2027 S. Lamar

There's probably about 2 or 3 thousand rental units under construction or planned that we know about, and probably a good 1 or 2 thousand more that we don't, in the Austin area.

It's actually closer to 10,000 units in the 5 county metro, and almost 1/2 of them are in the 'inner city' within the inner highway loop (183, 360, 290, 71)

Great thread! It is wonderful to be able to see all of these together.

All of this must take a good deal of time and work to collect. For that a huge thank you. :)

We have one for North Burnet already.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=127754&highlight=Burnet

Well, it needs to be updated. It's been years since any posts have been done there.

Ok, so here's what I got so far on the heights for these:

Under construction

Gibson Flats, 2101 South Lamar Boulevard
75 feet
7 floors

Proposed

Hanover South Lamar, 809 South Lamar Boulevard
70 feet
5 floors

The 704 Building C, 3103 South Lamar Boulevard
66 feet
5 floors

The 704 Building A1, 3103 South Lamar Boulevard
65 feet
4 floors

The 704 Building A2, 3103 South Lamar Boulevard
65 feet
4 floors

Lamar Manchaca Residential 2717 South Lamar Boulevard
61 feet
5 floors

I wonder if the city realizes that urban rail is going to have to be extended down Lamar to tie in all this VMU development? Frankly, this goes back to the whole discussion of whether or not urban rail spurs makes sense along some of the major thoroughfares leaving downtown Austin (I.E. South Lamar, South Congress, South 1st, Lake Austin via 5th and/or 6th, E. Cesar Chavez, E. 7th, E. Riverside, North Lamar/North Burnet, Guadalupe) where VMU development (or just simply development in general) already exists, is quite obviously picking up now, or will pick up in the near future.

Here's another one that's proposed at 211 S. Lamar (where the Taco Cabana is.)

Go here and then click on the SP_Riverside_Lamar_MultiFam_Data.xls link. It says the applicant is proposing a multi-family development of approximately 200 units.

site plan

There was an article in the Austin American Statesman last year about this property.

Developers eyeing boutique hotel, apartments just south of downtown
By Shonda Novak
May 6, 2011

Sounds like they couldn't get financing for the hotel, and if the new proposal calls for approximately 200 units instead of 120, maybe they just decided to make the units smaller than originally planned.

You can also go here:

https://www.austintexas.gov/devreview/a_queryfolder_permits.jsp

and type in the address and you can see that an application was submitted just a few days ago on August 17, 2012

Permit# 2012-083499 SP

LoneStarMike, I was trying to find the rendering for the now cancelled "The Magnolia". Do you have it or know where one is? I never saved it, and now that I've found the heights for the building, I'm wishing I had.

By the way, when you're searching for the files on the city's website, all you have to do is type in the street name and then select site plan. That pulls up ever folder for projects on that street. You can also select the dates so that you can search for older projects. I like doing it that way since it pulls up every project for the street, even some that we haven't heard of.

:previous: OK thanks, and although I remembered the Magnolia looking a little different, this was the rendering I found for it:

http://www.iloveaustin.com/images/dt%20magnolia.jpg

I found it on this site

That appears to the northeast corner. The pool had a downtown view. Most renderings that floated around showed the west side/Lamar side.

:previous: yeah, you're right. Here's a couple of others I found

From the Wayback Time Machine.

image #1

image #2

The above links take about 5-10 seconds to load, so be patient

And from loopnet

http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/F/5/D/xy_F5D708B6-9D7B-441E-B947-882040344EB6__.JPG

source

That sure did have a lot of surface parking. At least this new version (Gibson Flats) has underground parking.

Some photo updates from August 29, 2012 of three projects along South Lamar.

1. Zach Topfer Theatre from the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-021.jpg


2. Zach Topfer Theatre from Lamar & Riverside
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-020.jpg


3. Gibson Flats from Gibson Street
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-023.jpg


4. Gibson Flats from Gibson Street
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-024.jpg


5. Gibson Flats from Gibson Street
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-025.jpg


6. Gibson Flats from Gibson Street at Lamar
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-026.jpg


7. Post Lamar
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-027.jpg


8. Post Lamar
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-028.jpg


9. Post Lamar - the three buildings behind the main one on S. Lamar Blvd.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-029.jpg


10. Backside of the main building that faces S. Lamar & the three buildings behind it
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-030.jpg


11.Post Lamar - front
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%202012/2012-031.jpg

Zack is looking good!

For a while there it was just a kinda ugly concrete box, and I was a bit worried how it would look. But now with its make-up on it is looking nice.

I'll bet you guys anything there will be people (nimbys) who will dare to say that this looks ugly.

I think this part looks pretty awesome. I was in Austin back in March and already so much looks different.

I really like the Post, the front looks like it could belong in Berlin, :)

I was thinking Scandinavian, but you are right. I does look like something from Berlin.

How many units does it have? It looks like it must have a crapload in there.

:previous: Post Lamar has 298 units.

That ultra-wide sidewalk in front of Post Lamar is a game changer or this corridor. Great to see. :cheers:

On a side note, Lamar Plaza Drugstore is moving out within the next 30 days, and into their new home across the street from Post Lamar (old Slick Willies, I think).

I like the way the Zach theater came out except the drastic blue color and glass makes the grey brick look like its unfinished, too much of a contrast between intense color and nothing, Dark grey or charcoal would have looked better, plus would have made a better backdrop if they decided to use that wall for hanging banners for upcoming events. All in all, the Post, Zach is the punch in the arm needed there.

I think it looks great. Whatever arguments against this stuff the Nimbys had, I think the buildings are very respectful of the area.

Surely even the NIMBYs have to admit this looks way better than a strip mall, how can you fight against this and not even blink when they put nasty strip malls.

I guess they're just pretty convinced they understand something we don't.

Yea, they must understand that ugly anytown USA is really what we need here in ATX to keep it weird...lol. I guess global climate change is something they also support.

All the new apartment complexes are great, and hopfully the new residents will demand a better sidewalk and streetscape. Let's face it, the sidewalk situation along S. Lamar is terrible. Narrow sidewalks adjacent to a street that carries a very high volume of through traffic. It is not at all pedestrian friendly and unless that streetscape improves dramatically, we are going to have lots of new apartment complexes with huge parking garages attached, and people will continue to drive rather than stroll because the latter will remain dangerous and unpleasant. At the very least, any new development should be required to provide extra wide sidewalks with enhancements such as planting and seating. Eventually that should be the standard for the whole length of S. Lamar all the way to Ben White.

Before it was built I said the Zach (Topfer?) Theater was ugly and I still think it is. Theaters have a chance to be really classy places and to me it just looks bland. Better than a strip mall, of course, but still very unimpressive.

It looks great in the picture. I'll have to drive by this coming weekend when I'm in town in order to better evaluate it.

I strongly disagree with you. Sure, it's not the greatest architecturally but it's still a pretty cool building... at least from the photos. I agree with wwmiv.... I'll have to see it in person to see for myself but from the photos it looks very nice.

I thinks the Zach looks pretty slick. I am looking forward to going to see Ragtime there next month and checking out the interior and overall theater-going experience. It should be nice to be able to stroll from there over to downtown and get something to eat afterwards.

Developer completes Lamar Plaza purchase
By Gary Dinges
Austin American Statesman
September 18, 2012

http://www.statesman.com/multimedia/dynamic/01568/newalamo_1568517c.jpg
Michael Hsu Office of Architecture

The article says Highball will close November 17 and the Alamo Drafthouse will close on January 3. Both are expected to re-open sometime during the 3rd quarter of 2013, although Highball will no longer have any bowling lanes.

The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

I guess I should get over there soon for some photos of the views. I would suggest everyone do it who cares to. I'm not sure what to expect with the new development.

I don't go that far south very often so I'm having a hard time remembering what Lamar Plaza looks like today which makes the rendering hard to decipher. If someone can lead me to a picture post of Lamar Plaza, it will save me a long drive just to see it.

Here you go:
http://goo.gl/maps/UQrgW

Doesn't that kill the idea of what Highball was supposed to be about?

Here's an oldie I took

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%20Night/LamarSquare04.jpg

And the sign:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/Austin%20Night/LamarSquare01.jpg

That was my thought, too. Then again, maybe the developer thought a bowling alley wasn't quite "upscale" enough for this development. :D

I honestly don't see the point of having it if there is no bowling alley. Might as well shut it down and open up another one somewhere else. The Mission District here in SF opened a bowling alley just like the Highball. Austin's losing its hipness. :shrug:

Thanks Kevin. It looks like it could use a face lift. After the bowling lanes are gone, where will the closest bowling alley be? How many lanes does Highball have?

Why close the bowling lanes?

...because bowling is lame?

I saw a news story about it on KVUE, I thought they said Highball was going to be bigger than it is now..