they don't have financing yet. seems likely this won't happen.

I wish our town were more treeless...like Dallas.

Suburban sprawl is Dallas. Urban development is Not Dallas. People who think building condos makes us more like Dallas generally have no clue what they're talking about.

Also, although in the article you do clarify that this is an apartment complex, the title 'condomania' implies these would be condos.

I do realize there are a lot of apartments being built in the Austin market, but I have little doubt this project will secure financing and proceed in the near term. This is a very desirable area, and with Austin's growth rate, I don't believe there will be a problem.

Tampa Bay Bucs, 2012, Mr. T

mdahmus, Dallas has a healthy hearty dose of condos all over the place. I'd say more condos does indeed make us more like Dallas... and Houston... and New York... and Los Angeles... and many other places that Austin has tried so hard to avoid.

And I'd rather see 100 trees stay 100 trees. There's no need for more apartments. They're already converting those blessed empty condo towers downtown into apartments. Hasn't anyone seen the giant "now leasing" banner hanging downtown?

At the center of Dallas, Mockingbird and Greenville Avenue, a beautiful example of art deco architecture used to stand as the Dr. Pepper headquarters. There had long been talk and plans of a light rail station adjacent to the empty building. Developers bought the property in the mid nineties, bulldozed it, then built condos.

Would have been nice to retain the original structure and convert it to condos / lofts. But like Austin's developers, those Dallas greedheads are eager to cannibalize a sense of place for a profit today.

Seth

Yeah! I really really really hate how those developers downtown are leveling dusty parking lots and abandoned buildings. I mean, who didn't love the Reddy Ice building or that dirt parking lot on 2nd and Congress next to an empty boarded up dump?! Those are true symbols of real Austin!

The least they could do is convert old warehouses (Brazos Lofts), old office spaces (Avenue Lofts, Brown Building, Brazos Place), hotels (Sabine), etc.

But hey, let's ignore reality. That's cool too.

Oh I see. Slagging on trailer "trash" is the way real cities transform into wonderful centers of cultural greatness. How inept of me and the rest of the longterm Austin natives.

I actually liked the Reddy Ice building. Much more character than half the plastic looking condo developments around town these days. And I stand by my belief that Austin could use more parking options.

Man I really wish we just had those crappy ass car lots back at 5th and Lamar, it was so cool back then. Remember when you could walk from 5th and Lamar along the tracks and were in fear of being mugged because there was no life whatsoever between there and the music hall. That and Whole Foods, Pure Austin and the slew of other shopping options and bars are so not Austin and so ugly. Please give me back the unmowed hay that towered on the side of the road back then. Come to think of it, could you bring it back to 4 lanes and make it 2-way please, that would be so great for traffic. And all this extra parking downtown for people visiting, curse you - please why could you not have left those single level dirt lots in place and continnue to charge me more and more each week!? Things were so much better then. Lord, I can only remember the glory days when I only had 2-3 options for bars or eateries in various parts of town. Now there are so many it just confuses me. DAMN YOU PROGRESS!!!

Yeah, the Reddy Ice building was cool. So were the car lots at 6th & Lamar that used to have the towering light posts that attracted swarms of bugs in the summer (and consequently swarms of bats). I also liked it when the Cedar Door was on Cesar Chavez at Lamar next to the power plant. During the summer (when school was out and everyone went home) you could sit on the patio and hear the water of Town Lake gurgling in the distance. Austin had a lot of charm back then. More trees and more raw acreage downtown.

And Grape Ape, Austin hasn't had a shortage of bars nor restaurants for at least 30 years.

That's a good point, Seth. I remember when Reddy Ice actually funtioned. It wasn't until the developers bought it (and then let it sit forever) that it started to fall apart.

I do think the Austin Music Hall's facelift is warranted and well done. Ditto on City Hall.

Yeah i preferred Ruta Maya there too.
(I have a Spanish workbook from those days, anyone remember that?)

Seth,

I've lived downtown for over 5 years, have owned a condo for 4.5, and have walked to work downtown (in the tech industry) for over 2 years. I'd say I'm pretty knowledgeable about downtown living and downtown employment options.

My entire office building is filled with professionals in the non-service/state/courthouse industry. My condo building features a variety of lawyers (government and private industry) and other professionals, many of whom also walk to downtown offices. I know this because I see them every morning walking to work too.

I know plenty of other professionals in other downtown condos who also walk to work. A couple of them work with me. I can name quite a few tech companies with office spaces downtown and some of them are hiring. Perhaps you've heard of one called Google? They're looking for dozens and dozens of software engineers last time I checked.

There are a number of other high tech companies looking to move downtown in the coming months/year. Not every job downtown is service/state related and the number of private industry jobs for professionals is increasing daily. For most professionals, if a person wanted to work downtown, that person can work downtown at this point.

As for Reddy Ice: I still see plenty of Reddy Ice for sale at the local supermarket. Condo development didn't exactly squash the local branch of a corporate giant, did it?

According to ReddyIce.com, they've got a facility here in Austin still and I'm guessing no one lost their job because of the move. If anything, some people probably have a shorter commute to work because (if your theory is correct) none of those people were living downtown back when Reddy Ice was a downtown employer.

And once again, how are condos squishing out jobs when the condos are built on top of empty dirt lots (Austonian, the W, etc)? Are parking lots truly hot spots of employment activity?

Cram,

I appreciate your perspective. It's a positive contrast to what I've heard from others working in the downtown tech industry. Frog Design is one company that's getting booted from it's current digs so the landlord can convert the entire building into lofts. I would hope that Google would choose to office downtown and ignore all that cheaper office space on Rundberg.

My point about Reddy Ice moving was that it was a nearby supplier to its customers. Forget how many cars its employees put into rush hour. Think more about how much further their trucks have to travel to bring ice to all those downtown customers.

My other point about Reddy Ice was that condos aren't only replacing dirt lots or dilapidated buildings. They are creating those dirt lots in anticipation. I get the sense that you're a recent arrival in Austin. Before there were dirt lots, there was something else. Perhaps a live music venue called Liberty Lunch (which got displaced by the CSC building, so it's not a great example).

Seth

Seth,

Google moved into the building on the Southwest corner of 6th and Congress. I'm sure their office space, like many companies downtown, is considered a perk to their employees.

I agree with you on the creating lots in anticipation. That is something I'm concerned about (ie, tearing down a suitable functional low-rise building a la Las Manitas' digs to replace with a brand new tower). I purposefully picked a non-towering building years ago because I wanted to know my neighbors and not ride the elevator with strangers.

As for when I moved here, I am a semi-new arrival. I've been here over 8 years now. I was at the tailend of the last silicon gold rush and I have no problem admitting that. I've been here long enough to remember when a lot of things were different, from SXSW being half its current size to the original 2 day ACL Fest to the Backyard having trees and not a Walmart for a backdrop. At the end of the day, I consider downtown Austin my home and I'm sure there will come a day when I am posting blog entries bemoaning the demolition of my favorite things too.

I'd just amend that previous statement as "PRIVATE open space comes at a high cost and it should". The city ought to keep buying up space for public use, since people with little private open space have more of a need for public open space (which is how you end up with a truly great city).