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  #701  
Old Posted Jul 15, 2018, 2:27 AM
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  #702  
Old Posted Jul 15, 2018, 3:17 PM
chundercracker chundercracker is offline
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Originally Posted by drummer View Post
I wish you were right here...but someone will come out talking about number of spots downtown, prices, traffic, etc. (even though there are a lot of conflicting arguments in that short list alone). Someone will fight that parking garage going away.
The issue isn't about "fighting" for the garage. It's the backup water chiller built on top of the garage that's keeping it from being redeveloped. FWIW, there's been some scaffolding around the chiller on the roof that's being put up, not sure for what.
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  #703  
Old Posted Jul 15, 2018, 5:52 PM
paul78701 paul78701 is offline
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Originally Posted by chundercracker View Post
The issue isn't about "fighting" for the garage. It's the backup water chiller built on top of the garage that's keeping it from being redeveloped. FWIW, there's been some scaffolding around the chiller on the roof that's being put up, not sure for what.
The garage (and Hobby building) are owned by the state, not the city. The water chiller is probably there under some sort of agreement/contract with the city/Austin Energy. The terms of that would likely be the only hindrance to the state deciding to sell it off.

Seeing as the state is looking to consolidate it's workforce, I imagine that there is a somewhat decent likelihood that the state workers in the Hobby will eventually be moved to the new buildings going up in the Capitol complex. That would open up Hobby and the parking garage for redevelopment.
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  #704  
Old Posted Jul 16, 2018, 7:26 AM
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Originally Posted by chundercracker View Post
It's the backup water chiller built on top of the garage that's keeping it from being redeveloped.
The garage was built first. Then the chilling plant was built within it. I think the chilling plant only takes up the southeast corner of the garage. I don't know how much of the existing garage could be torn down without affecting the chilling plant.

Quote:
FWIW, there's been some scaffolding around the chiller on the roof that's being put up, not sure for what.
Here's more info about that.

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The Paul Robbins District Cooling Plant (formerly DCP 1) is one of two plants serving customers in Downtown Austin. It was built in 2000 within a state parking garage facility located at 300 San Antonio Street. Although the plant’s five chillers have a cooling capacity of 8,000 tons, the plant is currently limited to 7,100 tons of cooling capacity produced by eight cooling tower cells of 900 tons each. In order to meet growing customer demand, an additional 1,800 tons of cooling tower capacity is needed to operate all five chillers at full capacity and maintain 900 tons of cooling tower cell redundancy.

The objective of this project is to construct an 1,800-ton cooling tower adjacent to the plant’s existing cooling towers, along with necessary structural, mechanical, and electrical components. This project is critical to providing reliable and uninterrupted service to chilled water customers located in Downtown Austin. In addition, this expansion will assist in meeting the thermal storage goal of 20 MW by 2025 included in the current Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan.
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  #705  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2018, 2:29 AM
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  #706  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2018, 7:33 AM
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  #707  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2018, 4:47 PM
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  #708  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2018, 6:46 PM
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The electric transmission lines are a nice touch. They blend well with the cheesy garage. The whole ensemble looks very Third World.
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  #709  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2018, 11:04 PM
papertowelroll papertowelroll is offline
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Are we still hating on this one?

Now that it's nearing completion, I don't think it's bad. Not a signature tower or anything, but I don't think I would ever look at that building and find it to be particularly ugly. Say what you want about the screen covering the garage, but it looks better than the 360's garage in the background of that picture.

An office tower in 2018 Austin is going to need a lot of parking. I don't see any way around that. Way too many people commute in from places in the city that do not and probably will not ever have significant public transit.
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  #710  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2018, 11:19 PM
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Originally Posted by papertowelroll View Post
Are we still hating on this one?

Now that it's nearing completion, I don't think it's bad. Not a signature tower or anything, but I don't think I would ever look at that building and find it to be particularly ugly. Say what you want about the screen covering the garage, but it looks better than the 360's garage in the background of that picture.

An office tower in 2018 Austin is going to need a lot of parking. I don't see any way around that. Way too many people commute in from places in the city that do not and probably will not ever have significant public transit.
Yeah, we're still hating on it. It's a prominent spot in the skyline because of the views from the water/library, and the garage looks really bad. With the amount of money being poured into the entire development, you would hope that the developer would pony up the funds to circulate the air and the garage to allow a full glass covering of the garage. This building would be a non-controversial office build if the garage blended into the rest of the building. At the very least, most wish that the architect would have swapped the mesh and glass sides so that the glass would face the water. The interior design looks amazing and I'm excited for the lighted elements though.

Also, the 360's garage looks 1,000X better in that pic.
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  #711  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2018, 11:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by papertowelroll View Post
Are we still hating on this one?

Now that it's nearing completion, I don't think it's bad. Not a signature tower or anything, but I don't think I would ever look at that building and find it to be particularly ugly. Say what you want about the screen covering the garage, but it looks better than the 360's garage in the background of that picture.

An office tower in 2018 Austin is going to need a lot of parking. I don't see any way around that. Way too many people commute in from places in the city that do not and probably will not ever have significant public transit.
Not hating, just waiting to find a place to put my Dr. Who clip. Thought it was funny and somewhat appropriate given the general opinion of the screen mesh. Oh what could have been... but overall, I don't mind this building. I think the best part will be the interior, something I'll never see. I'm done bashing Mr. Blume's work. Still loving 600 Guad.
And I agree, 360's garage is much better looking imo.
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  #712  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2018, 4:10 AM
austlar1 austlar1 is online now
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360's garage is a masterpiece as far as garages go.
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  #713  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2018, 2:11 PM
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Originally Posted by papertowelroll View Post
but it looks better than the 360's garage in the background of that picture.
WTF are you smoking? Have you actually seen this building in person?

The 360's at least has some pattern and reads like a building facade. This one literally is a 10 story blank wall. At night it's less obvious because the lights shine through it. But during the day, it's absolutely atrocious.
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  #714  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2018, 2:16 PM
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I'm coming around to Third+Shoal, but it's still not my favorite, but I also don't think its the worst either.

360, though. It's one of my favorite buildings in Austin period. Top to bottom it's done right. The only thing I'd change about it is that I'd find a way to light the metal part of the spire. Other than that, it's one of my faves and I suspect it'll stay that way for a long time.
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  #715  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2018, 2:34 PM
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Originally Posted by austlar1 View Post
The electric transmission lines are a nice touch. They blend well with the cheesy garage. The whole ensemble looks very Third World.
Let's not forget the piles of giant dried dog crap which insinuates the crappyness of the garage portion.

Sorry I'm still hating on this building. It's a monstrosity, not only due to the blank wall screening during the day but by night, clearly a garage which seems to blend in with its office half about as much as 405 Colorado's garage will blend in with its office portion, viewed from the west that is. The east view is much nicer. It's like they just gave up at the end for the western side of the building which I will remind is the most viewed side by more people due to facing Shoal, Second Street Bridge and the Public Library, not to mention the Seaholm District. And just to show that I'm not totally negative on this building, besides the east side looking much nicer, the other good feature of this building is the color of the window glass.
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  #716  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2018, 12:44 AM
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Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas View Post
I'm coming around to Third+Shoal, but it's still not my favorite, but I also don't think its the worst either.

360, though. It's one of my favorite buildings in Austin period. Top to bottom it's done right. The only thing I'd change about it is that I'd find a way to light the metal part of the spire. Other than that, it's one of my faves and I suspect it'll stay that way for a long time.
I agree with both your points Keven. To point one, that building on Barton Springs will always be my least favorite, Third and Shoal is waaay better.
Point two, I think 360 is my sentimental favorite. I watched it grow floor by floor from the web cam, from a baby to adulthood. It was the start of things to come. Tall, well lit, tastefully done and stylish. It still reminds me of a cheese grater, but fortunately, I like cheese, and cheese graters. I think 360 and later Spring brought some legitimacy to our earlier skyline. Really sad to see it covered up by less attractive buildings from so many angles.
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  #717  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2018, 5:49 PM
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Any word on the lighting for this one?

Did we ask Blume about that? If not, what were we thinking?

I remember some of the renderings made it look like there were vertical LED strips running up the fins, but those could have been reflections or just stylized. I kind of doubt that's still happening.

I guess there's something of a mechanical crown. Maybe it will be lit? We at least deserve something, given how this is blocking one of our best-lit buildings.

I was driving up Lamar last night and it struck me again how 500 W 2nd is one of our brightest, best-lit buildings at night. The lattice structure just glows like a lantern. It will be a real drag if Third and Shoal is just a dark block.

Green lighting would be cool, to complement the glass.

I guess we'll find out soon?
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  #718  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2018, 11:37 PM
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  #719  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2018, 11:42 PM
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Other than....everyone knows what, it is a nice looking tower, I agree.
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  #720  
Old Posted Sep 4, 2018, 7:07 AM
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I think the garage looks ugly when the light hits it just right, especially from the Central Library vantage point. The glass is pretty amazing, in my opinion. I love the green.
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