High Rise Rises

 The view from our balcony. This one will be 40-plus stories when done. 

The Old Extended Stay

 This sixty-plus story building is on the site where the Extended Stay Hotel used to be. It looms large from a lot of angles. I shot this photo when we were walking south on Guadalupe the other day.
We call it "The Extended Stay" just to be able to ID it. 

The Model of Nokonah Condos

When buildings are proposed, there are often elaborate models. I know there was one for our building in the sales office. (See here.) We try to visit the sales offices of all the buildings going up to see them. But the Nokonah kept theirs in the lobby.

Live tall and Proper

The Proper is the name of a new hotel/condo building a block south of us, more or less. The windows on this tower are pretty cool.

Wavy windows

This new tower just south of us has interesting windows that are set at angles to each other.

SXSW -- big building going up

For what started as a small music festival, SXSW has become quite a deal. Now it has its own big building going up in downtown Austin.

Digging deep

Her is a shot of the site where a large building imploded a few months ago. Now it's being dug out for a new structure. I took this shot when I was in the Headliners Club for lunch a few weeks ago.

Old and new

I love these contrasting buildings-- you see a lot of this around downtown Austin.

The Neighborhood is Changing

The skyline behind these flowers (blooming on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge) is really changing and has been for the past months and years. The topped but as yet unfinished Independent looms behind the Seaholm Residences in the center. To the right of center is our building (now ten years occupied with the needle on top. Continuing to the right is the Third+Shoal Building across the street from us which is still under construction and next to it is the Proper Hotel and Condos still being built.

Model Home

We stopped by the Sales Office of the Independent the other day and I tried to snap a picture of the model. Couldn't quite get the top in the narrow room! I photoshopped a black background to protect the privacy of a future resident who was explaining his future home to what we think might have been his grandparents! Click here for an image of the almost complete real building.

The end is near

A few minutes after I took this photo, this building was exploded by a professional demolition crew. We had to get out of bed at a horribly early hour to see this event from the windows of The Headliners Club.

Independent vision

Here you see the Independent, a new building in the neighborhood. When done, it will be the tallest residential-only building west of the Mississippi. Of oucrse, as you can see, it is informally known as the "Jenga Building."

Craning my neck.

Yes, one more tall building. This one is the Independent, which will be the tallest residential-only building west of the Mississippi when it is done. What happened to our little town?

The tallest yet

Here you see the Independent Building, looming over the new library. This towering structure will be the tallest residential-only building west of the Mississippi when it is done. We all call it the Jenga Building for obvious reasons.