10-12 story towers to replace Mesh apartment complexes, very close to Oracle.

Austin’s premier woman developer seeks zoning amendments for projects near Oracle

Yup. The Planning Commission hears the zoning change request for 120' buildings Tuesday evening. Staff recommends approval, and there should be zero to minimal opposition.

The PC passed the height increase to allow for the 10-12 story residential buildings near the Oracle Campus.

Excellent news!

Hopefully this is just the first step in height density. Would like to see 15-20+ story towers all along Riverside. I envision a sort of Wilshire Blvd. effect with highrises stretching from DT southeast towards the airport.

I think we're heading that way. But only with baby steps. It's been a long time since city leaders did a significant upzoning of a large area. WC and Rainey was what, 12 years ago? The NW section of downtown isn't even CBD for the most part. That should definitely be the first area to get upzoned.

Would that then be considered our '3rd' downtown? Seeing high-rises clustered just to the southeast as well as to the distant north (Domain) would make Austin look so much bigger. Around 30 years ago, the only tallish buildings were pretty much along and next to Congress Avenue. Then the next biggest deal was around the Arboretum. One of those towers was featured in the movie 'Office Space'.
My only concern about opening up Riverside to new heights...as downtown runs out of space leaving going taller the only option in the near future, will more abundant parcels on Riverside provoke developers into choosing to build cheaper mid-rises there than really expensive high-rises downtown while still remaining relatively close to downtown?

I'd like to see more height in the 'burbs. However Riverside is very close to ABIA. There are likely some height restrictions. Nothing that would stop most mid to high-rises but there won't be any Austonians or Independents on Riverside. A nice mix of low, mid and high-rises would be perfect.

I think the next area in the city that will go virtical is the St. Elmo District which will likely stretch from just east of S. 1st and St. Elmo to I-35 probably over the next 20 years as all of that old light industrial space is phased out. St. Elmo Market and the surrounding midrises are only the beginning. Eventually we will see more and more redevelopment and I'm confident that in time that development will increase in height especially if we can get a rail line down Congress Avenue.

Someone I remember posted a very useful map of the approach map (I doubt that's the technical name for it) of ABIA showing the FAA height restrictions surrounding the airport. If someone remembers what I'm talking about, I'll add it to our list of helpful links here:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=230371

On St. Elmo, I agree. I've always assumed that area would upzone/rezone eventually. The whole area around Ben White. All that industrial stuff. If you drive down South Congress now, it's looking sad with some vacant lots where they've already bulldozed some stuff for development, but that area could really come alive eventually.

I'm less optimistic that South First could ever be as urban as Congress and Lamar are. It's a much narrower street lacking a turn lane and there are no bike lanes, plus, it's much hillier. I used to huff and puff up those hills on my bike on the way to downtown before I finally came to my senses and took to the bike lanes on Congress. Even so, I avoid Congress these days because southern portion of South Congress is kind of hairy, and dark at night. So, I take Vinson and then dart over to Congress via either St. Elmo or Radam.

Not sure about the FAA approach map, but here is a link to the restricted zones where I can't fly my drone that show the approach/departure lanes for ABIA.

https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map Type in Austin, TX in the search bar.

By the way, I take these restrictions very seriously. Those idiots who shut down Gatwick Airport last month are ruining it for everyone.

Edited to add: It looks like Riverside/Pleasant Valley is outside of the restricted zone.

Interestingly S 1st probably has the most projects underway from Riverside to Oltorf. I can think of 6 or 7 multiple story, mixed use projects just in that section that are either moving dirt or going through permits.

It will look a lot closer to S Congress or e 6th in the next 5-6 years.

That wasn't it, but I went ahead and added it anyway.

I have a feeling there would be more opposition from nearby SFHOwners to anything taller than four floors going up along South First below Ben White. There are SFHs in abundance along both sides of that corridor, and that usually does not bode well for mid rise or high rise development. South Congress/St.Elmo is a whole other ball game.

The first house I ever lived in was on South First between Stassney and William Cannon. I have to admit, I would be more than sad to see it go. It sold a few years ago, and my mom and I went and visited it while they were showing it. Someone bought it and turned it into a law office and poured a concrete slab/driveway in the front yard.

The City Council will consider the zoning change request on 02/21 for the 120' buildings at the Mesh apartment site near Oracle. This is what the Planning Commission approved at their last meeting. There will probably be some anti-gentrification folks there to oppose it.

There have been some buildings proposed for that area of that height off and on for over a decade.

Remember this? This was the Lakeshore Apartments slated for 2400 Elmont Drive.

I counted roughly 14 floors in these.

Here's a Towers article on it from 2008.
https://austin.towers.net/massive-30...lyn@towers.net

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net...69&oe=5CDFF9F5

What a great location for the Austin FC.

5700 East Riverside Drive - 6-story residential building ~65 feet.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/..._PLAN_04-A.pdf

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/..._PLAN_04-B.pdf

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/..._PLAN_04-C.pdf

What's notable about this building is that it's over 600 feet in continuous length along Riverside Drive at 6 stories. The vast majority of the units are efficiency / 1 bedrooms.

Too bad they couldn't do a 2+5 on this lot or higher. Some of the Project Catalyst docs suggested Planning Commission support for 120-160 feet in height more or less along the entire Riverside Drive (east of I-35) in the future.