Our city’s newest and largest hotel, the JW Marriott Austin, opened on Friday. This massive hotel takes up an entire city block between Second and Third Streets, except for a few small historic buildings that remain huddled together in one corner. With over 1000 rooms, this is the largest JW Marriott in the United States and the second largest in the world.
We are surrounded by major construction projects in downtown Austin. Cranes, cement trucks, and heavy equipment are everywhere. Many surface parking lots have now become gaping holes surrounded by temporary fencing as the site prep work takes place. The towers that are further along seem to grow a new floor every week. There’s so much construction here that downtown neighborhood associations have petitioned the new city council to “limit” concrete pouring to 6 AM to 7 PM.
Renovation of the Auditorium Shores trailhead was completed last week. This phase was originally planned to be finished last July, but the opening was delayed due to “closeout” issues. I guess everything was satisfactorily resolved since the construction fences and remaining debris were removed last week.
For 18 long months, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar has been closed. Their previous building was part of an old decrepit shopping center which was razed and is being rebuilt as a mixed-used project called Lamar Union. Most of the site is still under construction. Only the movie theater, The HighBall nightclub, and the adjacent parking garage are finished.
Lots of construction in downtown Austin means that I have been taking lots of photographs of cranes. These things are everywhere. It’s interesting to watch them in action, lifting up loads of girders and supplies as a building grows taller and taller. Watching a tower crane swing around in circles during one of our violent summer thunderstorms is downright scary, though. I’m guessing the cranes aren’t tied down so that they can align themselves with shifting wind currents.
Auditorium Shores is located just south of downtown Austin along the shores of Lady Bird Lake. This 57-acre park is used for lots of annual events: Austin Marathon, Cap10K, Turkey Trot, Austin’s New Year, Keep Austin Weird Fest, Cowboy Breakfast, Austin Food and Wine Festival, Fun Fun Fun Fest, plus many more. With all that use, the park looked more like a dust bowl and was definitely overdue for improvements.
The construction site for Austin’s new Central Public Library was brightly lit on Friday evening as final preparations were being made for the pouring of the foundation. According to the library’s web site: “The mat slab is approximately 200 ’x 200’ and is 5’-6” thick and has 1,433 tons of reinforcing steel.” Over 1000 cement deliveries would be needed for this ’round-the-clock pour.
Once again, our capital city made national news this week as CNN reported that Austin tops the list of fastest growing cities with metro areas of over 1 million residents. Based on the number of in-flight construction projects downtown, that’s not surprising. We have so much construction here that even the sidewalk construction sheds are being painted with murals.
It’s time for another construction update…and there’s lots of news to report!
Several hundred people attended the official groundbreaking ceremony for Austin’s new central library on May 31. This new library will be located in downtown’s Seaholm District, just to the east of the old Seaholm Power Plant. The building is expected to open in 2016.