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A Genuine Juggernaut

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#1 renamerusk

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 08:56 AM

Wow, Austin, what can we say other than we are impressed!

 

https://www.theverge...us-us-expansion



#2 txbornviking

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 08:59 AM

Any word yet if the "Texas Enterprise Fund" or other "incentives" were used to make this happen?



#3 Volare

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 10:36 AM

Handout to developers!



#4 Austin55

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 10:41 AM

What are the two circles in DFW? Dallas mad Richardson or something?

#5 JBB

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 10:58 AM

The employees at the 6 Apple stores in the area?

#6 renamerusk

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 03:07 PM

I think its time to concede our pursuance of a High Tech Conglomeration and to direct our efforts to projecting Fort Worth as a tourist, meeting and leisure mecca.



#7 Dylan

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 06:07 PM

We (Fort Worth) need to direct our efforts towards attracting companies... and not let Dallas do it for us.


-Dylan


#8 John T Roberts

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 07:35 PM

Saturday is the last Mayor's Bike Ride for the year.  Maybe the forum members should show up and let her know some of our opinions.  It's at 10 AM at Pier 1.



#9 renamerusk

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 07:39 PM

JTR, did you intend to post here about the Mayor's Bike Ride?



#10 John T Roberts

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 07:47 PM

Yes, I did.  However, I can split my comment from the posting of the actual event.



#11 renamerusk

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 07:52 PM

Yes, I did.  However, I can split my comment from the posting of the actual event.

 

 I am curious what the Mayor's Bike Ride and what is transpiring in Austin, Texas have in common?



#12 John T Roberts

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 08:12 PM

It is a Rolling Town Hall, like her other bicycle rides.  I suggested that maybe some of the forum members talk to her about attracting companies.  We have a lot of good ideas that we share with each other, and sometimes these ideas should be conveyed to our elected officials. I was thinking this might be a good opportunity for some of the members to visit with her.



#13 renamerusk

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Posted 15 December 2018 - 11:49 AM

I think Austin, Texas is on a trajectory to become Texas' Super City, surpassing both Houston and Dallas in importance.

 

As a city, Ausin has the pillars of higher education, state and federal government, the center of the high tech industry in the state and is among the top 5 centers of high tech in the nation, a major conferencing and meeting city, and a cultural mecca (music, art).  I think that it is wise to recognize Austin's preeminence; and for a city such as Fort Worth to focus its trajectory in a different direction.

 

Long term, Fort Worth should uncouple its identity from Dallas because at this point in time it is every city on its on; and every city must have its own independent plan for the future.

 

Fort Worth should project itself as a destination for tourism and conferences; and as it is well underway, continuing its position as a logistical and transportation center for goods and finished products.  Few would have envisioned the success and the ascendancy of Alliance Airport, but it along with a vibrant leisure destination should be enough to sustain the City.



#14 ramjet

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Posted 15 December 2018 - 06:51 PM

Renam:  while I have great respect for your insights, I may have to part with your prediction for Austin, for now at least.  As a resident of Austin for the last 11 years, I can report with heavy heart that Austin has a woefully, even horribly, managed transportation infrastructure that really impedes its quality of life despite the media hype.  Its arts scene cannot even remotely compare to Dallas's, Fort Worth's, or Houston's.  Have you been to Austin's modern art closet, err... museum?  Yes, while there are a lot of kiddos who've transferred their garage bands to local beer joints, I hardly think the large selection of "live music" venues even remotely compare to the Dallas Symphony, the Houston Opera, or Fort Worth's Van Cliburn competition or any of those cities' local music scenes.  To me, 15,000 workers at an Apple campus compare in size to 15,000 at a Lockheed campus (don't know for sure the large employers in Dallas and Houston, but Toyota and Exxon Mobile respectively come to mind.)  And for me, there is nothing wrong or inferior with a manufacturing, engineering, blue collar job center vs. a white collar, tech job center.

 

The Texas state government is like an emaciated, junk yard dog.  It is hungry for resources and mean.  (Don't get me started on the corrupt culture of U.T.). The local City of Austin government here is barely a step above a high school student council and is totally beholden to developers and any crazy resident who shows up at City Hall with a tin hat.  That being said, the breakfast tacos are amazing and the hills of west Austin are pretty.  Just my opinion, but I don't think Austin is on a trajectory to become Texas' super city.  I think Houston, more than any other Texas city, with its incredible diversity and global economic outreach, is the Texas super city for the future.  I do agree and like your thoughts about Fort Worth's trajectory.  Focus on the aviation, manufacturing, transportation, and leisure related assets.  Again, nothing wrong with that...



#15 renamerusk

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Posted 15 December 2018 - 10:43 PM

RJ, insights, as I believe you surely understand, are improved when they viewed in a different light.  Thank you for improving my insight on many fronts.

 

Before I made my prediction about the future trajectory of Austin, I considered one factor:  What city in Texas has undergone and more telling is continuing the greatest change in its make up.  With only this as a measure, I arrived at my decision in favor of Austin.  Austin is no where like the town that I attended college in some decades ago; that Austin is unrecognizable today.

 

The make up of both Dallas and Houston is strong, but Austin's super charged economy is rapidly closing any gap between the three and Austin's pace will eventually bring parity between the three.  In California,  you will find the greatest concentration of wealth in the cities/counties that comprise the Silicon Valley. The result in California is a Super City Area in the North that rivals that of Southern California.  The wealth produced in Silicon Valley is migrating to Austin instead of Dallas or Houston and positioning Austin to be the incubator of some of the next "great techno" things to be created.  This should mean that Austin will rival both Dallas and Houston in importance.

 

What comes to mind when you think of Dallas or you think of Houston? - Banking/Finances or Oil/Gas.  Economists forecast that banking will be more concentrated and done in greater personal ways.  Energy is changing its definition from fossil fuel to renewable and will be generated and consumed locally. If the next growth industry is technology/conferencing, then Austin has already taken the lead.

 

So dear to my heart, where does all of this leave Fort Worth?

 

Fort Worth can no longer have the attitude that what's good for the region (Dallas) is good for Fort Worth.  Without much or any of its City's Leadership, Fort Worth is bubbling up its own version of cowtown weirdness and that can have the potential to import the early spirit of Austin weirdness to Fort Worth, abate that it be more manageable. The words spoken by those visiting the pavillion,  Fort Worth Now @ SXSW, were surprise and interest about Fort Worth.

 

There are successful cities that one lives in to work; and then there are successful cities that one works in to live.  Ideally, Fort Worth can continue being a city that living in it is the prize and which people are envious of.



#16 Volare

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Posted 16 December 2018 - 04:23 PM

Rename the Mayor TM



#17 Austin55

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Posted 01 February 2019 - 01:21 PM

Google will take all 790,000 sqft of a new Pelli designed office tower in Austin.

 

https://www.statesma...downtown-austin

 

austin-google-campus.png?w=1600



#18 renamerusk

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Posted 01 February 2019 - 01:44 PM

I think Austin, Texas is on a trajectory to become Texas' Super City, surpassing both Houston and Dallas in importance...

 

I think that it is wise to recognize Austin's preeminence; and for a city such as Fort Worth to focus its trajectory in a different direction.....Fort Worth should project itself as a destination for tourism and conferences; and as it is well underway, continuing its position as a logistical and transportation center for goods and finished products.

 

 Little else more to say.

 

 What I like about the Pelli Tower is the office atop the parking.  Any number of blocks in Downtown could easily do the same thing.



#19 george84

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Posted 02 February 2019 - 07:03 AM

While Austin is certainly growing in importance, Houstons port will continue to provide an advantage. Austin can never have that. In your previous post you mentioned oil and gas, but dont forget the medical industry. That is one that is truly recession proof.

#20 renamerusk

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Posted 02 February 2019 - 12:59 PM

While Austin is certainly growing in importance, Houstons port will continue to provide an advantage. Austin can never have that. In your previous post you mentioned oil and gas, but dont forget the medical industry. That is one that is truly recession proof.

 

  Yes, Houston has the Port and Medical Advantage.

 

   I think a great amount of the Port of Houston activity may be as a result of its energy economy where petroleum is piped in, refined and exported internationally. Another important activity is the exporting of Midwestern Grain, however that is also exported from New Orleans.

Will fossil fuel continue to dominate the world's energy needs or will alternative energy sources be generated locally?  I think the agricultural export will hold Houston's place, but Austin, Texas is exporting/importing technology.  Today the largest capitalized companies are no longer energy companies, but are tech companies. 

 

Medical Industrial Complex is poised to undergo radical changes and possibly reinventing.  Hospitals are very expensive to maintain and operate inefficiently. A Houston Medical Center may eventually be force to downsize with the immergence of locally based medical clinics and a population that is living much healthier than only as far back as the 1950's.  I think that you are correct to believe that the UT Medical Complex will remain strong, but the trend for medicine delivery is to be less concentrated in one city but to be spread among many cities and be accessible to more patients, for example UTSW Dallas and UTSW San Antonio.  The number one issue for the 2020 General Election will be centered on devising a system where all citizens are provide healthcare and the means to gain medical care.  Even this will be apart of Austin,Texas growing in importance due to it being a high tech city.



#21 renamerusk

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Posted 10 March 2019 - 05:26 PM

Austin, Texas at the center of the universe this week, next week and the next there after.

 

Boy, our Capital City has come a long way :)



#22 renamerusk

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Posted 22 November 2019 - 05:21 PM

 

It's insane what that city [Austin, Texas] has done.

 

I can't remember the exact years, but there was about a 6 to 7 year gap between my visits to Austin.  I swear, the city was hardly recognizable between the two visits. Now, I'm blown away by the development every time I visit......I really like the office/hotel/residential/retail mix towers. ... 

 

 

 

I think Austin, Texas is on a trajectory to become Texas' Super City, surpassing both Houston and Dallas in importance....Long term, Fort Worth should uncouple its identity from Dallas because at this point in time it is every city on its on; and every city must have its own independent plan for the future....Fort Worth should project itself as a destination for tourism and conferences; and as it is well underway....

 

 

.....Before I made my prediction about the future trajectory of Austin, I considered one factor:  What city in Texas has undergone and more telling is continuing the greatest change in its make up.  With only this as a measure, I arrived at my decision in favor of Austin.  Austin is no where like the town that I attended college in some decades ago; that Austin is unrecognizable today.....The make up of both Dallas and Houston is strong, but Austin's super charged economy is rapidly closing any gap between the three and Austin's pace will eventually bring parity between the three......  This should mean that Austin will rival both Dallas and Houston in importance.

 

What comes to mind when you think of Dallas or you think of Houston? - Banking/Finances or Oil/Gas... If the next growth industry is technology/conferencing, then Austin has already taken the lead.

 

So dear to my heart, where does all of this leave Fort Worth?  Fort Worth can no longer have the attitude that what's good for the region (Dallas) is good for Fort Worth....Fort Worth is bubbling up its own version of cowtown weirdness and that can have the potential to import the early spirit of Austin weirdness to Fort Worth, abate that it be more manageable. The words spoken by those visiting the pavillion,  Fort Worth Now @ SXSW, were surprise and interest about Fort Worth.

 

There are successful cities that one lives in to work; and then there are successful cities that one works in to live.  Ideally, Fort Worth can continue being a city that living in it is the prize and which people are envious of.

 

 Wow, I'm not surprised at all and have been talking about Austin for a long time.  And for a long time, I have advocated that Fort Worth emulate Austin as much as possible and whenever and not any other major Texas city.

 

 I don't know that the make up of all of the towers u/c or proposed for Austin, but my guess would be mixed use and not 100% office.  Mixed use projects are exactly what can be done in Fort Worth.



#23 ramjet

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Posted 22 November 2019 - 07:48 PM

 

 

It's insane what that city [Austin, Texas] has done.

 

I can't remember the exact years, but there was about a 6 to 7 year gap between my visits to Austin.  I swear, the city was hardly recognizable between the two visits. Now, I'm blown away by the development every time I visit......I really like the office/hotel/residential/retail mix towers. ... 

 

 

 

I think Austin, Texas is on a trajectory to become Texas' Super City, surpassing both Houston and Dallas in importance....Long term, Fort Worth should uncouple its identity from Dallas because at this point in time it is every city on its on; and every city must have its own independent plan for the future....Fort Worth should project itself as a destination for tourism and conferences; and as it is well underway....

 

 

.....Before I made my prediction about the future trajectory of Austin, I considered one factor:  What city in Texas has undergone and more telling is continuing the greatest change in its make up.  With only this as a measure, I arrived at my decision in favor of Austin.  Austin is no where like the town that I attended college in some decades ago; that Austin is unrecognizable today.....The make up of both Dallas and Houston is strong, but Austin's super charged economy is rapidly closing any gap between the three and Austin's pace will eventually bring parity between the three......  This should mean that Austin will rival both Dallas and Houston in importance.

 

What comes to mind when you think of Dallas or you think of Houston? - Banking/Finances or Oil/Gas... If the next growth industry is technology/conferencing, then Austin has already taken the lead.

 

So dear to my heart, where does all of this leave Fort Worth?  Fort Worth can no longer have the attitude that what's good for the region (Dallas) is good for Fort Worth....Fort Worth is bubbling up its own version of cowtown weirdness and that can have the potential to import the early spirit of Austin weirdness to Fort Worth, abate that it be more manageable. The words spoken by those visiting the pavillion,  Fort Worth Now @ SXSW, were surprise and interest about Fort Worth.

 

There are successful cities that one lives in to work; and then there are successful cities that one works in to live.  Ideally, Fort Worth can continue being a city that living in it is the prize and which people are envious of.

 

 Wow, I'm not surprised at all and have been talking about Austin for a long time.  And for a long time, I have advocated that Fort Worth emulate Austin as much as possible and whenever and not any other major Texas city.

 

 I don't know that the make up of all of the towers u/c or proposed for Austin, but my guess would be mixed use and not 100% office.  Mixed use projects are exactly what can be done in Fort Worth.

 

You sure about that?  How about almost $600,000 for a house in central Austin under 1000 sq/ft.  Is that what you want for Fort Worth?

 

https://www.realtor....7-85710?view=qv



#24 renamerusk

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Posted 22 November 2019 - 10:12 PM

If you were the lucky one to have owned the house and now gets the listing price, then that is capitalism.  I assume that the house will be razed and replaced with something else. 

 

But more than just that, it indicates that there is a keen and highly paid base of buyers/investors in Austin because of its 21st century economy. 

 

Do you have a feel for the nature of many of the high rise buildings going up?



#25 ramjet

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Posted 24 November 2019 - 06:20 PM

If you were the lucky one to have owned the house and now gets the listing price, then that is capitalism.  I assume that the house will be razed and replaced with something else. 

 

But more than just that, it indicates that there is a keen and highly paid base of buyers/investors in Austin because of its 21st century economy. 

 

Do you have a feel for the nature of many of the high rise buildings going up?

I live in a condo downtown - not a high rise - but a small two story 32 unit complex near the flagship Whole Foods that's a work/live set up.  I have many friends and acquaintances who live the nearby high rises.  Much like the small complex I live in, many of the units around here are second homes or investments for those who live outside of Austin.  They are often not occupied (most don't allow short term rentals).  On realtor.com there are currently 52 condos for sale in downtown Austin for $1 million or more.  I'm not a realtor, nor do I pretend to understand the Austin market, other than it is dang expensive, but I would say 52 vacant million dollar condos might indicate an overbuilt/overpriced situation.



#26 renamerusk

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Posted 24 November 2019 - 07:11 PM

 

....But more than just that, it indicates that there is a keen and highly paid base of buyers/investors in Austin because of its 21st century economy.

 

.... many of the units around here are second homes or investments for those who live outside of Austin.  They are often not occupied (most don't allow short term rentals).....

 

  I have a sense that the Austin market is somewhat similar to the Miami market where investors and companies purchase for both leisure and the benefits of real estate subsidies.   What Austin has is a culture, largely based upon meetings, leisure, festivals, etc. and the real estate is compliments the hotel sector.

 

 About Fort Worth, it may seem to be a wild comparison with Austin, but I think Fort Worth can emulate to a degree what has happened in Austin.  If and when Fort Worth gets better known as its own market, some of the investors in Austin will look for new opportunities where there is a demand.  I believe that Fort Worth can satisfy some of that demand while learning from some of the mistakes that made in unfettered growth.



#27 ramjet

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Posted 24 November 2019 - 07:53 PM

 

 

....But more than just that, it indicates that there is a keen and highly paid base of buyers/investors in Austin because of its 21st century economy.

 

.... many of the units around here are second homes or investments for those who live outside of Austin.  They are often not occupied (most don't allow short term rentals).....

 

  I have a sense that the Austin market is somewhat similar to the Miami market where investors and companies purchase for both leisure and the benefits of real estate subsidies.   What Austin has is a culture, largely based upon meetings, leisure, festivals, etc. and the real estate is compliments the hotel sector.

 

 About Fort Worth, it may seem to be a wild comparison with Austin, but I think Fort Worth can emulate to a degree what has happened in Austin.  If and when Fort Worth gets better known as its own market, some of the investors in Austin will look for new opportunities where there is a demand.  I believe that Fort Worth can satisfy some of that demand while learning from some of the mistakes that made in unfettered growth.

 

While I agree with you that Austin has cultivated a festival culture that attracts international interest and investment, it comes with a price.  If Fort Worth would like to emulate Austin, be prepared to be more tolerant of open marijuana use, public lewdness, and public drunkenness.  In fact, our outsized festival culture has necessitated the local taxpayers to fund this:

 

https://soberingcenter.org



#28 renamerusk

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Posted 24 November 2019 - 09:19 PM

Was there ever an moment in time when Austin might have been more hands on about the things overall?  I do think that Fort Worth can and will learn what to do and what not to do so that it is able to manage carefully its image.



#29 renamerusk

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 07:50 AM

 A redo of some of mine and your earlier posts about our state capital and what it could portend for our beloved Fort Worth

 

I think Austin, Texas is on a trajectory to become Texas' Super City, surpassing both Houston and Dallas in importance....

As a city, Ausin has the pillars of higher education, state and federal government, the center of the high tech industry in the state and is among the top 5 centers of high tech in the nation, a major conferencing and meeting city, and a cultural mecca (music, art).  I think that it is wise to recognize Austin's preeminence; and for a city such as Fort Worth to focus its trajectory in a different direction.

 

Long term, Fort Worth should uncouple its identity from Dallas because at this point in time it is every city on its on; and every city must have its own independent plan for the future....

 

 

 

.......Before I made my prediction about the future trajectory of Austin, I considered one factor:  What city in Texas has undergone and more telling is continuing the greatest change in its make up.  With only this as a measure, I arrived at my decision in favor of Austin.  Austin is no where like the town that I attended college in some decades ago; that Austin is unrecognizable today......The make up of both Dallas and Houston is strong, but Austin's super charged economy is rapidly closing any gap between the three and Austin's pace will eventually bring parity between the three........The wealth produced in Silicon Valley is migrating to Austin instead to either Dallas or Houston and positioning Austin to be the incubator of some of the next "great techno" things to be created.  This should mean that Austin will rival both Dallas and Houston in importance.

 

So dear to my heart, where does all of this leave Fort Worth?

 

Fort Worth can no longer have the attitude that what's good for the region (Dallas) is good for Fort Worth.  Without much or any of its City's Leadership, Fort Worth is bubbling up its own version of cowtown weirdness and that can have the potential to import the early spirit of Austin weirdness to Fort Worth, abate that it be more manageable....

 

 

 

 

It's insane what that city [Austin, Texas] has done.

 

I can't remember the exact years, but there was about a 6 to 7 year gap between my visits to Austin.  I swear, the city was hardly recognizable between the two visits. Now, I'm blown away by the development every time I visit......I really like the office/hotel/residential/retail mix towers. ... 

 

Wow, I'm not surprised at all and have been talking about Austin for a long time.  And for a long time, I have advocated that Fort Worth emulate Austin as much as possible and whenever and not any other major Texas city...... I don't know that the make up of all of the towers u/c or proposed for Austin, but my guess would be mixed use and not 100% office.  Mixed use projects are exactly what can be done in Fort Worth.

 

 

As the attached article below demonstrates, Austin is a city on a mixed use project tear.  And after you are completely dazzled by the sheer magnitude of Austin's reinvention, just think of how at least one or possibly two mixed used projects could make a tremendous difference for Downtown Fort Worth.  Also take note of all of the outside developer investment coming to Austin, even some from Dallas while bypassing Fort Worth. Is there really a shortage of investment or is there really a shortage of recognition when it comes to Fort Worth.

 

I would like to understand why there is a herd mentality to actually overbuild speculative in Austin while at the same time there is not a single speculative mixed use project planned for Fort Worth.  Has Fort Worth so screwed itself with the "DFW" brand that it is relegated to being a submarket  or as it has been said is Fort Worth not given or not to be shown consideration in the CRE world?  I once again leave you with those considerations.

 

Again look at Austin where what mixed use is the name of the game.  I think it is inevitable that someday the tallest tower in Texas will be constructed in Austin, Texas.  Austin is a beast.

 

https://www.bizjourn...own-austin.html



#30 Randall

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 02:58 PM

Fort Worth, Dallas and Austin!
Tarrant County, Dallas County and Travis County!
Yes Dallas, has several cities around them in Dallas County, but none within the county that dominates the City of Dallas.
Austin has none in Travis County, but to the north you have Williamson County, with Georgetown and Round Rock.
Then there’s Tarrant County. There’s Fort Worth and Arlington. Out side of the Entertainment District, Arlington is the same as it was 30 years ago. Nothing new to see here. The Viridian, is making a great effort to change the north side of town.
So my question for the board is Arlington hindering Fort Worth from a major building boom. By the way the 800 room Lowe’s Hotel across the street from Lowe’s Live Hotel is underway. Fort Worth needs to dominate Tarrant County, before we worry about Austin.

#31 renamerusk

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 03:27 PM

Arlington is definitely not hindering Fort Worth from a major building boom. 

 

1. The hindrance comes, IMO, from within by those who have an advantage and want to maintain it by asserting a fatherly affect.

 

2. The capitulation by Fort Worth to the theory that all the various cities within a 50 mile circumference is one seamless happy city that looks out for one another - classically Three Musketeers mindset and nievate.

 

Something that caught my eye reading the article about Austin, Texas is that there are Dallas investors who will do projects in Austin, but will not do a project in Fort Worth.  It may be that theoretically Fort Worth is too close to Dallas and this might be seen as a potential drag upon Dallas somehow if Fort Worth were to really take off.  Example: Alliance is a Woodbine Project, yet Woodbine has decided that it would build its next big skyscraper in Dallas instead of considering even a modest/larger project in Downtown Fort Worth.  Why is this and, shouldn't  we know what makes investors like Woodbine dish Fort Worth even when Fort Worth is its cash-cow.

 

So, I believe that both the in-house aspect and the "friend-enemy"aspect are what is stunting the build boom in Downtown.

 

To overcome this, the City of Fort Worth is going to need to designate Downtown as a special district that will offer incentives for  only new construction regardless of whose toes get stepped on.  Those task to promote this special district must contact investors (a great start would be those investors who are active in Austin, Texas) and entice them to Downtown Fort Worth. 



#32 John T Roberts

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 07:59 PM

Rename, your idea for incentives for only new construction might result in many of our "Historic" Downtown buildings being demolished.  Most do not have official Historic Landmark status and are not protected from demolition.  If you incentivize only the new construction, there is a lot of incentives in demolishing the unprotected "historic" buildings and replacing them with the new ones.  I'm all for some of this new development, but I also think you have to protect our most important historic buildings.



#33 Jeriat

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 08:46 PM

Austin pumps out 5 of these every half year like an assembly line and we can barely even break ground on a building that started out with 31 floors and has been downsized, like so many other projects here... ugh.

 

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#34 renamerusk

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 09:02 PM

That is both insane and ingenious.  Austin = hospitality+conferencing+residential.  It is a formula that can be replicated by Fort Worth.



#35 Austin55

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Posted 06 September 2020 - 09:50 PM

Visited Austin today briefly, but spent most of my time West of town in the Lake Travis/Bee Cave area. Even out there, new office buildings dot the landscape. The skyline is insanely different from my last visit nearly 6 years ago.



#36 John T Roberts

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Posted 12 November 2020 - 03:09 PM

Austin may get its first "Supertall", and it may become the Tallest Building in Texas.  To read more about it, go here: https://austin.tower...Z0jIQIJIyiMfF0A



#37 george84

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Posted 12 November 2020 - 05:38 PM

My hometown may lose the crown for the first time in my life. I was born 3 years after Texas Commerce Tower, Now Chase tower was built in Houston.

#38 Austin55

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Posted 12 November 2020 - 06:48 PM

Insane.

#39 John T Roberts

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Posted 12 November 2020 - 06:51 PM

I'm old enough to remember when the Tallest Building in Texas was in Dallas, not Houston.



#40 eastfwther

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Posted 13 November 2020 - 07:18 AM

These mixed use towers are definitely the way to add height to buildings.  I welcome more of them to Texas. 



#41 Jeriat

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Posted 01 February 2021 - 03:09 PM

Tower 5C / 670' / 50 stories... 

Feels like this one would be PERFECT for us because it looks like it would fit our city blocks.

It also reminds me of Block TU, but better looking.

 

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#42 Austin55

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Posted 18 March 2022 - 02:33 PM

I was in Austin for SXSW over the last week. 

Block 185/Google Tower/The Sail is pretty much done. It's a stunning structure. 

DQMZ3jw.jpg

View from my room. Almost none of this existed 15 years ago.
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#43 Nitixope

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Posted 18 March 2022 - 07:16 PM

Lucky.

#44 WTXKid

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Posted 19 March 2022 - 06:08 PM

Do you think Fort Worth will ever reach this level of high rise development? Personally, TAMU Fort Worth needs to be built out to a 50k campus in downtown with a tech focus probably an unpopular opinion, but I would use panther island for a new tamu campus. Any thoughts on how we get to Austins economic development success?

#45 roverone

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Posted 19 March 2022 - 07:15 PM

Any thoughts on how we get to Austins economic development success?

 

I think Austin has some qualities that we will never have that will make it difficult for us to have the same economic development success -- but I gather that their success has also brought some difficulties.  They are the capitol of the state, they have a university with 50k students that may have influenced tech relocations and has made the city (not the state government) more free-spirited, they probably have more natural beauty, and most importantly they are not overshadowed by nearby cites.



#46 WTXKid

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Posted 19 March 2022 - 10:41 PM

Do you think Fort Worth feels like the most complete urban area compared to its neighbors?

#47 rriojas71

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Posted 20 March 2022 - 10:48 AM

Do you think Fort Worth will ever reach this level of high rise development? Personally, TAMU Fort Worth needs to be built out to a 50k campus in downtown with a tech focus probably an unpopular opinion, but I would use panther island for a new tamu campus. Any thoughts on how we get to Austins economic development success?

I don't think we ever will because we have a larger and more important city right next door and honestly I'm quite ok with that.   I'd like to see some growth here with some more high rises and some infill in our tons of unused innercity lots but I don't want Austin to be a template for a city that I live in. 

 

Over the past 6 months I have been to Austin about 20 times for business and I may be one of the few on here to make this statement but I think Austin is a very overrated.   Yes it has some major growth going on with all the skyscrapers and it is has a really nice skyline now but there are a lot of issues that have arisen from it growing too fast too quickly.  It feels very disjointed and operates with an almost untamed chaotic energy.

 

I have lived in 2 dense cities and I love traveling to large urban cities around the World but Austin's growth feels plastic and not organic.  It's strange because I really want to like it more but the more I travel there the more I loathe it.

It's only saving grace to me is the outdoor activities (I love their trail system) and the live music scene. 



#48 Austin55

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Posted 20 March 2022 - 11:53 AM

Do you think Fort Worth will ever reach this level of high rise development? 

Nope. Austin's building boom is untouched by even the most modern American cities since the 1980s. 

Fort Worth has 15 buildings with 20+ floors dating back to the 1920s. Austin has built 22 buildings with 20+ floors in the past 10 years, and has 14 under construction at this moment. 

 



#49 Dylan

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Posted 21 March 2022 - 02:25 PM

When I was in Austin for the NASCAR at COTA race last year, I filmed downtown and the urban parks just south of it. Google Tower was still under construction.

 

I've been holding off editing my Austin video because I wanted to get more footage of it first. I will be doing so after the NASCAR at COTA race this weekend.

 

There is quite a bit of footage from last year that is already obsolete less than one year later!

 

But, I will only be able to film this Monday. So, I will pretty much only be filming Congress Ave (it was cloudy when I originally filmed it) and the inside of the capitol.

 

My Austin video will already be out of date when it debuts.


-Dylan


#50 Nitixope

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Posted 29 November 2022 - 11:31 PM

Wow, OK this Austin supertall just hit national news:
https://www.cnn.com/...ower/index.html




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