Downtown Development Initiatives

Summary

Status

Block 4 Residential Development: see Block 4 Residential Development Initiative.

Waller Creek: The Downtown Austin Alliance has convened a group of the Waller Creek stakeholders and the affected City of Austin departments. They have chosen consultant Chuck Flink to help the group develop the Waller Creek Urban Greenway Action Plan. Chuck Flink will be in Austin August 30th and 31st to assist in raising the $35,000 for the action plan.

Design Guidelines: see Downtown Design Guidelines.

Downtown Development Advisory Group: The Downtown Development Advisory Group has their final report ready to forward to the City Council. Included in the report is a recommendation for a downtown planning and development corporation.

Heritage Austin: Heritage Austin is a program of the Heritage Society of Austin. The team, comprising five local architects, met with many members of the public to develop a vision for downtown. They are expecting to complete their report Heritage Austin: A Community Value Based Vision by early September.

Description

• directing the City Manager to initiate a study to determine the feasibility of developing the Electric Utility "Poleyard" property for residential uses, and developing a public-private cooperative venture;
• directing the City Manager to develop a letter of intent outlining a public-private joint venture for redeveloping the City's Block 4 and the privately held Block 20 into a mixed-use residential project;
• directing the City Manager to initiate discussions with public institutions and private interests to develop a public-private cooperative effort for proposed improvements to Waller Creek;
• directing the Design Commission to prepare draft design guidelines for the city's downtown region, building on previous Council actions, planning studies and community consensus building exercises;
• creating a Downtown Development Advisory Group to advise the Council on specific projects as well as long term policy decisions regarding City-owned assets in the downtown area, and;
• endorsing the Heritage Austin public input process, and resolving that Heritage Austin serve as an independent planning resource and advisory body to the City Council for downtown Austin, working parallel and in conjunction with the downtown development advisory group.

Basic Data

• Project Contact: Michael Knox, Development Services Process Coordinator, 499-6418