Downtown

January 2000

• 200 Block Congress Avenue
  The project is complete, except for the tree planting, which will be done in February 2000.

• Austin Downtown Rangers
  The Rangers are now identifying individuals who are wanted on warrant for failure to complete their Community Court sentences. In November and December 1999, the Rangers identified 10 individuals who were then picked up by police.

• Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH)
  The City's recent agreement with the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) required that the resource center be relocated from its previous location on West 2nd Street. As of August 1999, the Homeless Resource Center is now located at 701 West Fifth Street, occupying the east side of the building.

  Under the auspices of the Community Action Network (CAN), the City and County contract with the Capital Area Homeless Alliance to provide services through the ARCH from January-December 2000.

• Convention Center Expansion
  The foundation is currently under construction. The structural steel was awarded by Council on February 17, 2000. Bids for the main building package are due March 16, 2000.

• Downtown Art Museum
  On December 20, 1999, Gluckman Mayner, Architects submitted the Schematic Design Review Package to the Austin Museum of Art and the City of Austin Architectural and Engineering Services Division for review and comments.

• Downtown Austin Alliance Great Streets Program
  Great Streets has finished several small projects, secured some designated funding, and developed design guidelines for Downtown streetscapes. The next phase includes a larger design study to develop district designs for Downtown streetscapes, development of specific projects, and identifying public and private funding for each project. The DAA is working with the City's urban design officer, pedestrian coordinator and transportation officer to create implementation plans for Great Streets. These projects will fit into the City's Downtown Access and Mobility Plan as well as the City's Comprehensive Parking study, both underway. In addition, the DAA is working with Capital Metro to coordinate Great Streets with transit plans for Downtown.

• Downtown Design Guidelines
  On February 17 the Design Commission made a presentation to the City Council. City staff intends to bring implementation recommendations to the City Council by summer.

• Downtown Development Initiatives
  
  • Heritage Austin: Completion of the Heritage Austin report Heritage Austin: A Community Value Based Vision is now expected in March 2000.

• Downtown Parking Study
  Several meetings have been held with stakeholders and interested citizens: December 15, 1999 (Parking Task Force), January 13, 2000 (Public Meeting), January 24, 2000 (Focus Group meeting, S. Congress), January 25, 2000 (Focus Group meeting, Downtown), January 25, 2000 (Focus Group meeting, East 11th/12th Streets)

  The next Task Force meeting will be held in late February 2000. Public meetings will be scheduled to present WSAÕs draft analysis (April 2000) and final report (June 2000). Work sessions with Boards and omissions will be scheduled in June 2000.

• Downtown Tuesday Noontime Concerts
  The Spring 2000 season will begin April 11 and will run every Tuesday, 12 noon-1:00 p.m. until June 27. The schedule is:
  • April 11 -- Dysfunkshun Junkshun (Funk & Disco)
  • April 18 -- Lucky Strikes (Swing)
  • April 25 -- Ponty Bone & the Squeezetones (Louisiana Swamp Rock)
  • May 2 -- John Arthur Martinez (Country/Tejano)--Cinco di Mayo Show
  • May 9 -- Red Headed Stepchild (Young Teenagers Playing Blues/Rock)--Mother's Day Show
  • May 16 -- Open
  • May 23 -- Roy Heinrich (Honky-Tonk)
  • May 30 -- Elvis & the Rhythm Rats (Elvis Impersonator)--Memorial Day Show
  • June 6 -- Paul Glasse (Mandolin Jazz)--June is Jazz Month Show
  • June 13 -- Delta Roux (New Orleans Funk and Blues)
  • June 20 -- Mandy Mercier (Blues)
  • June 27 -- Open

• Lamar Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge Facility
  The project is bidding and the bids are due on February 10.

• New City Hall & Public Plaza
  New Project
  Carter-Burgess, Inc., has been hired to develop a space program and plan for the new City Hall and Public Plaza. Stakeholder and community participation meetings began in mid-February. The program will be completed in April 2000. Selection of a Design Team for the new City Hall is underway, and Council is expected to select a team in March 2000.

  Beginning in January, the City Council moved its regular meetings to alternate sites, and all City employees working in the Municipal Annex will be relocated by the end of February. Asbestos removal and demolition of the Annex will begin in March.

• Poleyard Residential Development
  Construction is well underway, and the first units will be ready for occupancy in late 2000.

• Republic Square Advisory Committee
  On January 13, 2000, the Task Force forwarded their report to the City Council. The Republic Square Task Force Final Recommendations report makes recommendations on: 1) Park Design; 2) Park Use; 3) Transportation, Parking and Pedestrian Issues, and; 4) Linkages (transit, cultural and historical)

• Town Lake Park Community Events Center
  New Project
  In November 1998, Austin voters approved two bond election items for work in the Town Lake Park area. One was to allow the City to lease and convert Palmer Auditorium into the new Long Performing Arts Center and the other was to create the new Community Events Center. This new Events Center is intended to accommodate some of the events that are displaced by the conversion of Palmer Auditorium and removal of the Coliseum. Once the new Events Center is completed in 2002, the private sector, non profit group, Arts Center Stage will assume control of Palmer Auditorium for conversion into a Performing Arts Center.

  The Design Development package has been submitted to the cost estimator for pricing. Alignment of budget and scope in process.

• Town Lake Park, Phase I
  Selection of a design team for the first phase of parkland development is going to the City Council for approval on December 16, 1999.

• Town Lake Waterfront Overlay District
  New Project
  On January 27, 2000 the City Council approved Resolution No. 000127-61, directing the City Manager to retain an urban waterfront planning consultant to develop a proposal for binding development standards to be incorporated into the Austin Land Development Code for the South Central Shoreline Subdistrict of the Town Lake Overlay District and those parcels within the Travis Heights Subdistrict north of Riverside Drive from IH35 to East Bouldin Creek.

  On February 17 the City Council appointed members of the Town Lake Waterfront Overlay Advisory Board and directed the City Manager to ensure that the planning consultant works with this board as well as area landowners in proposing a conceptual plan and development standards.

  The City Manager shall provide a preliminary report outlining work to date on the proposals no later than May 15, 2000.

• Waller Creek Flood-Management and Water Quality Improvements
  A public meeting was held on June 29, 1999 to present the scope of the preliminary engineering investigations. Since that time, the engineering consultant has advised the City that the cost of the project will be greater than estimated in the 1996 study of the project. Supplemental project preliminary engineering studies have been authorized to study additional tunnel alignments and outlet locations in an attempt to determine the most cost-effective project. Another public meeting will be held in mid-March 2000 to discuss the results of the preliminary engineering investigations.

  In addition to the site construction, we are in the process of bidding out materials, such as the pedestrian bridge, benches and other site furnishings, signage, etc.