Bill and I finally toured The Independent, a condo tower that locals call “The Jenga” due to its offset design. At 693 feet, this is now the tallest building in Austin and the tallest residential building west of the Mississippi. The Austonian previously held these honors, but has slipped to second place at 583 feet.
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Yes, I’ve been very delinquent, and a blog entry is long overdue. I’ve been traveling quite a bit recently, so I decided to get back into a blogging habit with an update on the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (aka “ATX”). The airport celebrated its 20th anniversary in May and also set a record for most passengers in one month (over 1.5 million). As a twenty-something, it was clearly time for a makeover.
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Recently I took advantage of a beautiful winter day to visit South Congress Avenue. I hadn’t been to SoCo for a while and wanted to see what had changed over the past few months. (Full disclosure: shopping and lunch were also involved.)
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After I wrote about the new Fairmont Austin and its skyway to the Austin Convention Center, I wondered: how many skyways does Austin have? Time to investigate…
The Fairmont Austin is now open on the corner of Red River and Cesar Chavez, about two blocks from I-35. This 37-story building has 1048 guest rooms and suites. Bill and I stayed here during South by Southwest. The hotel had only been open a week, and finishing touches were still being done.
The new South Terminal is now open at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. As its name suggests, this building is on the southern side of the airport’s expansive property. South Terminal cannot be accessed directly from the main airport entrance on Rt. 71. Instead, you must take Rt. 183 south (of the Rt. 71 intersection), turn left onto Burleson Road, and then make another left onto Emma Browning Avenue. This route wasn’t well-marked when I traveled, but perhaps better signage has been installed now. A shuttle bus runs between the two terminals, but there’s plenty of inexpensive parking at South Terminal (maximum: $7 per day). The parking lot does not have an attendant, so only credit cards are accepted at the exit.
I accompanied movie-lover Bill to the soft opening of Austin’s newest Alamo Drafthouse last weekend. This eat-in movie house is located in the Mueller neighborhood, the site of Austin’s old airport. We weren’t enthusiastic about the movie (The Red Turtle), but we loved the Alamo Mueller!
It’s been a long time since my last Construction Update. There’s lots of exciting Austin construction news to report, especially on the western side of downtown.
Austin construction projects have been humming along since we last checked in for June’s update. Summer’s almost over—at least according to the calendar—so let’s take a look at the latest progress…
Formerly the site of a power plant, the build-out of the Seaholm District is nearly completed. The old power plant building was renovated last year and now houses offices for athenahealth and Umbel. Trader Joe’s Seaholm has been open for over a year now. People are filling up the condos at the 30-story Seaholm Residences.