Church has development plans for downtown Austin block
Episcopal Church leaders are seeking a developer to partner with them on a mixed-use project on a prime downtown Austin block.
The New York-based Episcopal Church organization owns the site, known as Block 87, which it uses as a revenue-generating parking lot. As one of the last undeveloped city blocks downtown, church officials said it provides “a historic opportunity for development.” The block is bounded by East Seventh, East Eighth, Neches and Trinity streets.
By next year, church officials say, they hope to select a developer to team with on a project on the site, which has the potential for more than 600,000 square feet of development. Church officials envision a building with office, residential, and retail uses, along with a permanent home for the church’s archives.
Height on much of the block would be limited to 75 feet, to comply with rules aimed at preserving Capitol views. However, “there is great opportunity to include a substantial high-rise section for residences or office space in other areas of the block,” church officials said.
The Episcopal Church has selected Cielo Property Group to partner in the development of a church-owned city block in downtown Austin, Texas, that will incorporate space for The Archives of the Episcopal Church and an adjoining mixed-use project.
The Episcopal Church purchased the Austin city block bounded by Seventh, Eighth, Trinity and Neches streets in 2009 for the purpose of building a national archives facility. The new 67,000-square-foot home of The Archives of the Episcopal Church will include research, exhibit and public space. The facility will serve as a national gathering place where Episcopalians and others can study and celebrate the history, beliefs and work of the Church and provide a cultural amenity for the broader Austin community.
Cielo Property Group was chosen from among 40 private developers who expressed interest in the property.
High-rise project planned for downtown Austin block
Shonda Novak American-Statesman staff
7:39 p.m Monday, April 24, 2017
Another high-rise development is destined for yet another downtown Austin block.
The Episcopal Church has selected Austin-based Cielo Property Group to partner in developing a church-owned block, with plans calling for a large mixed-use project, along with a permanent home for the church’s historical archives.
Cielo Property Group, a commercial real estate investment and development firm, released conceptual renderings of what a mixed-use project might look like on the site, known as Block 87 and bounded by Seventh, Eighth, Trinity and Neches Streets.
A tower could rise somewhere in the 30-story range, with the mix of uses not yet determined, said Rev. Canon Lang Lowrey III, the asset manager for the property who is representing the church in its search for a development partner.
The tower was designed to conform to a capitol view corridor that runs through the property. These view corridors protect the view of the capitol dome from designated places outside of downtown.
A 27,000 square foot supermarket is being planned along with condos, hotel rooms, and office space.
This one is probably dead, and certainly dead as proposed. I have doubts that this is actually pandemic-related, this one has always been shaky and never received funding. This project predated this thread by at least a few years.
__________________ It can be done, if we have the will.
AUSTIN | 701 Trinity (Block 87) | 423 FEET | 31 FLOORS
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