Austin | 415 Colorado | 640 Feet | 47 Floors | U/C - Page 34

MichaelB · #**661** Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 4:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahealy

Downtown is where entertainment, resi, retail and everything in-between should thrive in addition to surrounding entertainment nodules.

I say reject UrbanAnywhere, USA aesthetics and disposable urbanism. It's OK to be picky and not just accept any type of high-rise at the cost of an entire district dying off lol.

chinchaaa · #**662** Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 4:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by We vs us

I still think it's inevitable that our entertainment options will slowly migrate under some of the larger CVCs. There're obstacles to that, of course, but so long as those CVCs stay in place the land underneath will be useless for much else.

why? bigger cities have been able to make it work

migol24 · #**663** Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 8:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

why? bigger cities have been able to make it work

I'm not so sure. All the good bars in every big city are in the cool neighborhoods and not in the downtown districts. Chicago, NYC, San Francisco... in the times I've spent there, no one ever went downtown to hang out. They go to Logan Square, Boys Town, Wicker Park, Old Town, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Bed-Sty, Williamsburg, the Mission, Castro, Hays Valley, etc.

I think everyone fears these neighborhoods in Austin getting killed because everything has for most of its history revolved around the downtown district. The difference with those cities is that the neighborhoods are already developed and here in Austin everything is so spread out. There definitely is development going on all over Austin, but it's still so far away from having a "true city" vibe. I'm sure the light rail would expedite that process. But also, what Austin has is truly unique and special. Not very many cities have such a large entertainment district within their downtown. But Austin has like 5 districts alone (East 6th Dirty 6th, West 6th, Warehouse District and Rainey).

papertowelroll · #**664** Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 9:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by migol24

I'm not so sure. All the good bars in every big city are in the cool neighborhoods and not in the downtown districts. Chicago, NYC, San Francisco... in the times I've spent there, no one ever went downtown to hang out. They go to Logan Square, Boys Town, Wicker Park, Old Town, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Bed-Sty, Williamsburg, the Mission, Castro, Hays Valley, etc.

I think everyone fears these neighborhoods in Austin getting killed because everything has for most of its history revolved around the downtown district. The difference with those cities is that the neighborhoods are already developed and here in Austin everything is so spread out. There definitely is development going on all over Austin, but it's still so far away from having a "true city" vibe. I'm sure the light rail would expedite that process. But also, what Austin has is truly unique and special. Not very many cities have such a large entertainment district within their downtown. But Austin has like 5 districts alone (East 6th Dirty 6th, West 6th, Warehouse District and Rainey).

Don't forget Red River!

It's hard to imagine Austin developing great neighborhood bar districts, as most are neighborhoods are so residential with only sporadic commercial space. It did happen on the east side but I'm not sure how replicable that is elsewhere. There also aren't many walkable spaces outside of downtown.

migol24 · #**665** Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 10:30 PM**

Yes, Red River too. I knew I was forgetting one.

Speaking of neighborhoods that are walkable. I've always wondered about the stretch on Guadalupe between 38th and 45th Street. That stretch seems to have so much potential for venues. The problem is that no one would probably want it to be an entertainment district of any sort. But it's such a sweet location. The only bar in that area is The Parlor and they close at midnight on weekends.

North Loop, where I live, also has a neat little strip of bars and restaurants. And also, there's the drag.

There just would be so much opposition that we'll never see any entertainment districts beyond downtown in our life times. And even if it ever became so, Austin wouldn't be Austin as we know it anymore. It's DNA would change entirely.

Urbannizer · #**666** Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 11:35 PM**

myBrain · #**667** Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 11:59 PM**

It seems to me we need a two-pronged approach to keep Austin's nightlife thriving:

1) We should have entertainment district overlays that require new developments to devote a more significant amount of space to entertainment venues. Not just a little frou-frou bistro or coffee shop squeezed under the parking garage ramps, but space equivalent to or greater than the original establishment, even multi-floor spaces.

2) We need to nurture the development of nascent entertainment districts outside of the dt core. There are plenty of these nodes that have a good start but are hampered by zoning and poor pedestrian connectivity, including Manor, E Riverside, Burnet, Airport/Highland, N Loop, Clarksville, Menchaca etc. And with more aggressive rezoning we could even see a new Rainey pop up somewhere unexpected.

Riverranchdrone · #**668** Posted **Jan 20, 2023, 12:37 AM**

Don't forget the nightlife has expanded to east 6th street. The bars and clubs will keep on relocating in place of development. There are plenty of other bar and nightclub areas scattered around the city. Dirty 6th has a bad reputation so maybe it is time for it to fade away. If I were still clubbing, I would go to the Rock Rose part of the Domain versus Dirty 6th.