The recent slab pour on West Second Street reminded me that it’s time for another construction update. Four buildings are slated for the site of the former Green Water Treatment Plant. A 38-story mixed-use office/apartment building (facing Cesar Chavez) is under way, and now the slab has been poured for the next one, a slightly shorter office building. Second Street is being extended with a new bridge over Shoal Creek.
A similar slab pour occurred last May for our new Central Library. This six-story building at the edge of Shoal Creek is expected to open in spring 2016.
Offices for Athenahealth are now open in the old Seaholm Power Plant building. It’s too bad that this iconic Austin building ended up as private offices instead of a public space.
At least there will be public access to a lawn area in front of the building. This future green space facing Cesar Chavez is still under construction. The Seaholm Residences are going up behind the power plant. These condos are supposed to be ready for closings in September 2015.
A new street has been created to the west of the Seaholm project. Appropriately named Walter Seaholm Drive, this little road connects Cesar Chavez and Third Street and provides access to a new public parking garage. This road may become a useful short-cut during rush hours. In the center of my photo is The Bowie, a mixed-use office and apartment building. There’s furniture on some balconies, so folks must be moving in.
A low-rise commercial building was built on Third Street behind the power plant. Under Armour established an Austin office here in February. The long-awaited Trader Joe’s is opening this Friday, May 1.
Another office building, 5th & Colorado, is going up at that address. This one will rise 18 stories. For a long time, this block was full of food trucks. Since most surface parking lots are being replaced by buildings, many trucks have been forced to relocate to East or South Austin.
Excavation is in progress for the UT System Administration building on West Seventh. This building will be seven stories of offices above five levels of parking and is expected to open in early 2017.
Work at the Hotel ZaZa site (Fourth Street between Lavaca and Guadalupe) has restarted after a lull of several months. This 24-story project will include apartments above the hotel.
Just across the river, The Catherine apartments are now leasing. The northern units face the downtown skyline. Besides having South Austin views, the other side of the building looks out over the sand volleyball courts at Aussie’s Grill & Beach Bar. The mid-rise project still under construction will be the 422 at The Lake apartments. This was the former site of the main RunTex store.
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