Lion's Muny in Austin

[7 Iron]

Perhaps this has been talked about on this board recently, so if so - sorry.

So UT Board of Regents is considering developing this property. I'm sure many of ya'll have played this course at some point in time - I played it a number of times in college.

I think UT-BOR could sort of get the best of both worlds if they develop the 155 acres along Town Lake and keep the golf course - BUT privatize the course. No more municipal. Let someone come in there and dump a ton of money into it and have it be a really nice private course. If you're not the member of a country club here in town and you don't enjoy playing crappy muny courses, your only option in Austin is to drive way out of town to play a nice course.

As it is right now, Lions is a POS. The course is a dog. Its run by the city - which fails miserably at most everything. Give it to company that wants to make some money and give everyone here in Austin a badass course to play that is local.

 

[Dead Horse]

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[7 Iron]

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[sportswriter]

is Riverside considered a Muny? i know it's not a country club, but i just played it a couple weeks ago and it was pretty nice. Or maybe i'm just used to playing at the garbage courses in South Texas.

 

[buckhorn]

Riverside is a Muny.

Lions has good years and bad.

I have said it for years and I'll say it again: Pave Muny.

I hit a high, slightly fading ball and that course gives me hell. I'd much rather have a Chipotle right where 16 is.

 

[TheFied]

I think that the BOR is smart by re-considering the way it was previously used. I went to UT for undergrad and grad school. I had friends in grad school that lived in those married student housing. It is a SERIOUS dump and an eye sore. Plus there is no reason for the housing to be there; ie, they can be moved to other properties. Either the 6th street stuff or perhaps up north to other UT property.

But that said, I would keep stalling. I think 20 years from now, the landscape of Austin is going to be completely different and that land is going to be exponentially more valuable. Just my thought.

I almost think they should stall on all the projects except raze the student housing and just leave it as green area for now. Move the students anyway.

 

[Starter]

The only thing I'm confident of is that nothing will be done in my lifetime...too many constituents to please

 

[Dusty]

Thanks 7 Iron for this thread. I did a site search and it appears that this is the only thread on it.


The Cooper Robertson $5 million dollar architect’s wet dream of a plan presented to the Regents was dead on arrival. A competent consultant performs due diligence and presents possible options. Here Cooper Robertson came up with a colored rendering as a conclusion. All that was missing was designating Donald Trump as the developer.

There’s no due diligence that’ll confirm the viability of that plan for 2019 or beyond.

Unless Dubai Royalty or the UT system funds it, that plan will never be built. Private capital isn’t what it use to be and likely never again, particularly for a ground lease “new urban” project like this. That and there won’t be any subsidies from governmental entities with jurisdiction either.

It’s a continuation of bad moves by the Regents regarding architectural and planning issues before them.


If something is to transpire, the Regents will have to address the elephant in the room, which is UT’s ever increasing elitism that shuts more and more locals out of anything associated with UT.

Removing Muni and the ball fields strikes the strongest at those locals who can least afford it.

The Regents weren’t the first to miss this point. The Tom Kite/Roy Bechtol scheme ignored it too as they proposed a resort that would have done roughly the same.

It’s not about keeping a golf course and two ball fields. It’s about retaining public access to an amenity that’s been available for 85 years.

 

[14tokihorn]

Rumor around the 'hood says that 2019 may not be relevant. Rumor being that the lease can be (what?) 'nulled' by either party, with appropriate notice.... 120 days - makes alot of business sense -

can anyone confirm this?

 

[Bookman]

When I play golf I play at Muny.