Austin | Violet Crown | N. Tower 29 Flrs, ~403' | S. Tower 22 Flrs, ~315' | Proposed

[StoOgE]

This feels like they want to make an amphitheater and are trying to scare nextdoor into thinking "just" an amphitheater is a "win"

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Novacek

I'm taking this with a huge grain of salt until we see movement on it. The guy behind it, Chris Milam, had a bunch of issues trying to redevelop the Backyard

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...-bee-cave.html

But yeah, my heart bleeds for Nextdoor. If they decide to live in unincorporated travis county, neighbors deciding to do whatever the hell they want is what comes with that.

Yes. He did. And they (IDM Co.) gave up on that project. However, the project is still being developed - but, by another developer.

And, Chris Milam, is not involved with The Violet Crown project (as mentioned in the tagged article). It was his vision, but he has stepped away from the company (IDM) and is no longer active in its management.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Yes. He did. And they (IDM Co.) gave up on that project. However, the project is still being developed - but, by another developer.

And, Chris Milam, is not involved with The Violet Crown project (as mentioned in the tagged article). It was his vision, but he has stepped away from the company (IDM) and is no longer active in its management.

No longer active, but he was the originator and original driver.

Part of it just seems like a "screw Bee Cave. I'll do my own amphitheater. But bigger. And with blackjack and hookers, I mean towers" spite project. Which is going to run into headwinds now that it has to be developed purely on its own merits.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by myBrain

I imagine this is at a pretty high elevation? Which means it would be visible from super-far away.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/10...!4d-97.9167233

Originally Posted by WestAustinite

I love skyscrapers as much as anyone on this forum but sticking a 400' tall building out in the middle of the Hill Country is a hideous idea. Why not design something less than 6 stories that better fits into the surrounding landscape. This thing will (literally) stick out like a sore thumb like the ACC Southwest campus, except way taller.

Originally Posted by Echostatic

This site is on the named Dittmar Hill, which has an elevation of 1,062'. ACC Pinnacle was at a similar elevation of 1,020'. Downtown is at an elevation of about 487'. The taller North Tower will have a peak elevation only 32 feet below the peak elevation of 92 Red River, for example.

I don't have a lot of time to scour for views of it, but I did a quick model of it in my Google Earth model, and it will stick up from some places, but actually the hills are going to block the view of it from much of Austin. So far, I've only spotted it at one spot at ground level - in South Austin down near Sunset Valley along William Cannon west of Westgate. I think from a lot of places inside of Austin it actually won't show up too much because of the hills between it and Austin. I'm looking it right now from the spot directly above Mount Bonnell with the terrace and river in the foreground, and it's barely noticeable above the horizon. At that point, you'd have to be 10 feet above the roof of the terrace at Mount Bonnell to be able to see the very top of the buildings. They're a speck compared to the huge tv and radio towers dwarfing them and the hill they stand on. Of course, views will be better of them from inside high rises around Austin, but I don't expect them to have much impact at ground level.

[obemearg]

Odd development, I feel like it's a niche group of people that would want to live in the suburbs where a car is required and away from urban amenities, in a high-rise, and near a loud event space. It almost feels like they're going after the same type of person that would buy a condo at the texas or charlotte motor speedway, but for music.

[KevinFromTexas]

I'm seeing it sticking up from a few places around my neighborhood in south Austin. There's one street in my neighborhood with a fleeting glimpse of Pinnacle Campus, and this is showing up near there. There's also one spot on Stassney Lane just east of the train tracks that the two towers are pretty prominent. I think there will be many places on I-35 down around Buda where they're stick up since you can see Pinnacle Campus down there.

[H2O]

Yep, feels like vaporware to me.

[JACKinBeantown]

I'm not sure I'd want to live in an apartment where I'm constantly subjected to loud music I may or may not like, but can't even see the stage anyway. It's a lose-lose for most residents.

[chinchaaa]

I feel like a lot of these residences would end up as vacation properties or Airbnb rentals.

[Echostatic]

I mean, can you imagine the views from the top floors of these? Being as high up as a supertall downtown, with completely unobstructed sightlines for miles and miles... That alone should sell the units. I love my view of downtown from our house out southwest, but these will put that view to shame. I've heard similar things about Pinnacle, which is less than a third the height of Violet Crown's towers. I mean, the parking on these goes up almost as high as Pinnacle's roofline.

EDIT:
This was my 1,000th post here on SkyscraperPage Forum. I completely missed it! Oops...

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Echostatic

I mean, can you imagine the views from the top floors of these? Being as high up as a supertall downtown, with completely unobstructed sightlines for miles and miles... That alone should sell the units. I love my view of downtown from our house out southwest, but these will put that view to shame. I've heard similar things about Pinnacle, which is less than a third the height of Violet Crown's towers. I mean, the parking on these goes up almost as high as Pinnacle's roofline.

There's a hotel at a winery on US 281 in Blanco County. They have an observation deck on the roof, and I've always wondered how tall something i downtown would have to be to be seen from their roof. Downtown from that spot is about 40 miles away, and I still haven't been able to spot anything - either from when I was there, or looking on Google Earth even with the proposed buildings modeled in. I did, however, see the Violet Crown towers from about 30 feet off the ground at their hotel site - the building itself is around 50 feet tall. I could actually see the Google model of these towers that I had made, and the distance is around 27 miles. It's the first time I've been able to verify seeing something in Austin's metro from that spot. Again, only in Google Earth, but I'm going to assume that on a good clear day that these towers would show up there.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by Echostatic

I mean, can you imagine the views from the top floors of these? Being as high up as a supertall downtown, with completely unobstructed sightlines for miles and miles... That alone should sell the units. I love my view of downtown from our house out southwest, but these will put that view to shame. I've heard similar things about Pinnacle, which is less than a third the height of Violet Crown's towers. I mean, the parking on these goes up almost as high as Pinnacle's roofline.

I'm sure the views would rock. But concerts are really loud. I would not want to stay in those buildings.

[Altoic]

Environmental groups raise concerns about Violet Crown amphitheater project proposed west of Austin
https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...erra-club.html

Powerful environmental groups are taking aim at the 71-acre Violet Crown project proposed near Bee Cave, saying it is "about the worst possible location to build a new Austin entertainment district" because of its proximity to environmentally sensitive areas.

"Potential impacts from the mixed-use, proposed development and 20,000-seat music venue in southwest Austin are very concerning — especially considering the investment that the citizens of Austin and Travis County, The Nature Conservancy, and our government partners have made to protect our aquifer and Hill Country habitat," Claire Everett, communications manager for the Nature Conservancy, wrote in a Nov. 2 post on the group's website. "The proposed project sits immediately adjacent to Barton Creek Habitat Preserve; some of the best golden-cheeked warbler habitat in Travis County would be severely compromised with the traffic, light and noise that a development of this scale would create."

Barton Creek has already been experiencing issues with toxic algae about a half-mile downstream from the site, and environmentalists are concerned the construction and operation of such a facility could add pollutants to the creek. The preserve is home to a number of endangered species, which could be impacted by light, noise, traffic and water pollution from the development.

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"If they want to do something like this further out in a more urban area, we certainly wouldn't have a problem with it," said Mike Clifford, technical director for The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance. "Right now it's in a place that's just so environmentally sensitive."

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Altoic

Environmental groups raise concerns about Violet Crown amphitheater project proposed west of Austin
https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...erra-club.html

This is FAR from surprising. NIMBYs!

[StoOgE]

I mean - I'm all for urban density - but the point of urban density is to prevent massive amounts of impervious cover in environmentally sensitive areas.

I'm pro development, but also town lakes algae bloom is getting out of hand and there appears to that upstream development and commercial ranching/farming may is the culprit.

I mean, this is probably a better development than the galleria was in that regard.

[kingkirbythe....]

Opposition to development is not always NIMBYism. This project is ill conceived before you even get to environmental concerns. It is a garbage project.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Opposition to development is not always NIMBYism. This project is ill conceived before you even get to environmental concerns. It is a garbage project.

I would have clicked the like button on the last two posts if there was one.

[H2O]

Pretty sure this 'project' is all about inflating the value of the land and to entice the Nature Conservancy or a similar organization to pay it.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

This project is ill conceived before you even get to environmental concerns. It is a garbage project.

How do you figure?

[mercury6]

yeah I'm pro urban development and pro nature preservation so this was a no for me