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Seaholm Power Plant Reuse

Summary

The Seaholm Power Plant sits on an eight-acre site on the north shore of Town Lake. The plant no longer generates power for the City. Private sector groups, including the R/UDAT Team and Implementation Committee, have recommended that Seaholm be converted to civic or cultural uses. In 1991, the City Council resolved to preserve Seaholm for public use after it is decommissioned.

Status

In 1997 the City Council formed a special committee, the Seaholm Reuse Planning Committee (SRPC), to focus on the massive plant’s next best use, and charged the group with creating a public process to gather citizen input to chart Seaholm’s future and to report these recommendations to the City Council. The Committee completed its report in June 1998. As a special committee of the Austin Arts Commission, the SRPC presented the report to the Arts Commission in July, and the Arts Commission adopted the report without change at its July 20, 1998 regular meeting. On December 9, 1998, the SRPC presented its final report to the City Council with various options. Copies of the report are available from Mario A. Espinoza, Austin Energy, 322-6095.

On November 18th, City Council passed a resolution directing the City Manager "to make recommendations outlining next steps for decommissioning the Seaholm Power Plant and soliciting proposals for the reuse of the plant." The City Managers Office is preparing such a memo at this time which should be issued in the next week.

Issues

A wide range of issues are associated with the future use of the Seaholm Power Plant, including hazardous materials at the site, cultural facilities planning and financing, and ongoing electric utility operations at the Seaholm site.

Description

The Seaholm Power Plant, built between 1951 and 1958, faces Town Lake on West César Chávez Street. It is composed of five gas/oil generation units (100 megawatts total when it functioned) and no longer generates power. The building features a towering turbine room 110 by 235 feet, with clerestory windows above flanking aisles, and a 65-foot-high ceiling. Two lower floors contain an additional 75,000 square feet. In all, the building has more than 110,000 square feet of useable floor area. An electric utility substation, transmission and distribution facilities, and a utility microwave communications center are located at Seaholm.

A number of planning efforts have recognized Seaholm's significance and potential for adaptive reuse. The City of Austin's 1984 Historic Resources survey targeted Seaholm for its highest priority rating of building to be preserved. The City's Town Lake Park Comprehensive Plan suggests that the plant be "converted into an activity center complementary to the area." In the fall of 1997, the R/UDAT Revisited Team reiterated its earlier support for Seaholm's cultural reuse.

Basic Data

City Contact: Mario A. Espinoza, Austin Energy, 322-6095

Public-Private Partnership: Seaholm Reuse Planning Committee, Leslie Pool, chair, 346-8717

Map of Seaholm Area

Revised December 9, 1999

Back to the October 1999 Contents


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