Austin | Autograph by Marriott Hotel (5th & Trinity)| ~140' | 13 Floors | Approved
 

I'll go ahead and start a thread for this even though an estimate of the floor count based on what we know now is only ~20-stories. Here's the project description from the Design Intake filing:

"260 key hotel and 3,000 SF restaurant located at the southwest corner of 5th and Trinity"


No site plan has been filed, but here's the Design Intake filing:

https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=166346


Here's the site. It includes both Trinity Hall and Russia House, and the Historic Landmark Commission approved the Demo in January.

https://i.imgur.com/akJjB6f.png

Never mind.

The Westin has 366 rooms, about 14k sq ft of meeting space, a rooftop pool and ground floor restaurant. And it's 20 stories.

The Virgin Nashville, however, has 262 rooms.

The Virgin Hotel Dallas has about 268 rooms, I think.

I was way off with the Westin. This one seems to be tiny in comparison now. A Virgin would be awesome though.

In a couple of different public settings lately, there've been some off-hand comments about a potential Virgin Hotel by people in my industry who would know. Just throwaway comments, but enough to make my antenna perk up. I don't know anything specific but I'm getting the sense that's one of the deals bubbling up right now.

I've been using the Virgin Nashville as my comparison case, and so far it fits Trinity/5th-- 262 keys, a single F&B outlet (a full service restaurant), a standalone, single-use build in a hot (or soon-to-be-hot) area. Either way, I'm guessing that the real estate price alone for these parcels makes unlikely to be another Homewood Suites, etc.

Virgin New Orleans -- 238 rooms
Virgin Chicago -- 250 rooms
Virgin New York -- 463 rooms
Virgin Edinburgh -- 222 rooms
Virgin Glasgow -- 242 rooms
Virgin Miami -- 250 rooms (this one, due for delivery in 2025, is a 40 story new build -- so all things being equal, if Trinity/5th is a Virgin, we could see more height than we anticipate).

New Downtown Austin Hotel Tower Planned at Fifth and Trinity Corner Site

https://austin.towers.net/new-downto...y-corner-site/

The approval of demolition applications for two adjacent buildings in downtown Austin late last month by the city’s Historic Landmark Commission will clear the southwest corner of East Fifth and Trinity Streets for a new hotel tower project, according to development permits filed earlier this week. Occupying a quarter-block, the adjacent structures at 307 and 311 East Fifth Street both date back to the 1920s, with the HLC releasing their demolition permits only after staff’s determination that neither property contained sufficient historic merit for preservation. Both properties are owned by a series LLC linked to local investors the Finley Company.

With no CVC and a location right next to the CC, why such a small building? Is the lot too small? Hopefully this has an office or condo component also.

Wow. That's the reveal.

I really like the Virgin Miami design and height. If we got that I'd be completely satisfied. https://www.hospitalitynet.org/annou...els-miami.html
The rooftop pool/restaurant/bar would have excellent views of Frost (similar to the Westin).

Good bet with Virgin Atlantic entering the market that a Virgin Hotel may not be too far behind.

Here's the permit from mid-December that mentioned White Lodging. They were wanting to see if they could get approved for Demo before filing a site plan. So a site plan should be filed soon. White Lodging gets stuff built quick and seems to finance their projects themselves.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=166346

Excellent find. I'm disappointed its WL, not because they're bad in and of themselves, but their projects aren't always urban friendly. Or rather, are friendly on the surface (some inspired street level interaction) but aren't good stewards of their air rights (Courtyard/Residence Inn is a prime offender, as is the Westin DT, and now whatever this one is going to be). They need to jump the mixed-use hurdle and they seem completely unable/unwilling to do that.

Also, as a hotelier I'm a little exhausted with WL. They own a HUUUGE amount of inventory in DT-UT-Domain areas and it's a little overwhelming when you're competing against them.

WL projects all feel like things that we're going to have to tear down in 20 years.

They are like Austin's McSam

Core digging out in front of Russia House this morning.

White Lodging - like them or not - does move quickly.

Yup. They'll have a Springhill Suites up by noon tomorrow if they can get the site cleared.

Boo. No CVC and it's only 13-stories.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=166346

White Lodging, still building like it’s 2006 downtown.