What is your solution to this development? It’s valuable land in an area with a demand for urban loft-style housing. All I ever hear is fighting about development and rarely creative solutions.
This reminds me of a Hyde Park development issue that has an end in sight. The new wine bar, “Vino Vino” on Guadalupe, has the support of many Hyde Park residents but does not conform to current parking regulations. Yet the City is currently supporting Vino Vino because they found a creative solution to parking involving utilizing space that currently goes unused in the evenings of surrounding retail like JiffyLube.
Austin is a sensitive city and a large part of it’s charm includes the open spaces like the Hike & Bike Trail, but I see it as a step in the right direction when a Developer voluntarily offers a creative solution like that presented at 222 & 300 Riverside. Instead of plopping whatever he pleases down, this developer is offering extra space to the trail.
If we fight all growth in Austin, we won’t be as progressive as we claim to be and we will miss out on a great deal of creativity as developers and builders find new solutions to problems with new growth.
In response to the comments to my last post and another blog that looks to be in response to mine, http://extendourtrail.org/ is only part of the information available on the web. Please also see:
The Austin Chronicle – (On this specific Issue)
Save Town Lake – (On all Developments around Town Lake)
I would like to encourage creative solutions to both sides of this issue other than ‘leaving the building as it is’ and ‘doing nothing with this land’ because these are really not realistic options.
