Between the Seaholm Waterfront, Walter E. Long Park, and Austin Energy’s new downtown substation, it feels like we’re smack in the middle of master plan season. Next up on the list is Brush Square, one of downtown’s three remaining historic public squares — the other two are Republic Square and Wooldridge Square, also in varying stages of improvement themselves. The City of ...
In Loving Memory: Downtown Austin’s ‘Golden Mirror’
“At mid-morning one day last week, driving west of Congress on Sixth Street was like suddenly moving into a dream world,” wrote Austin American-Statesman columnist Inez C. Jeffery on November 4, 1973. “The morning sun was shining on the gold wall of the new American Bank building, and the reflection became a path of gold... ...
For These Towers, Spring Was the Season for Breaking Ground
It wouldn’t be spring without a groundbreaking celebration in the downtown Dallas area, and the city’s developers have already celebrated a few. Centurion American Development Group, the brain trust behind the $230 million restoration of The Statler Dallas hotel, recently took on another historic building redevelopment — and it’s curiously similar to the Statler project, this ...
Draining Lake Walter E. Long for a Golf Course Is a Breathtakingly Stupid Idea
Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park, located near the eastern edge of the city limits, is the largest park in Austin — and it’s not even close. I mean, just look at this: But in true Austin form, we’ve been keeping things weird by doing almost nothing to utilize these thousands of acres of land, including the 1,165-acre lake in the... ...
Mixed-Use Expansion Planned at State Employee Retirement System Offices
The Employee Retirement System of Texas occupies one of the more creatively-designed buildings in the Texas Capitol Complex at 200 East 18th Street, but the agency seems to have outgrown its home, with plans for a major expansion underway. The main building, a five-story 1979 structure shaped like a Chinese wood puzzle, will remain as the agency’s main office. However, a much ...