we will be losing state parking lot 7

ElginHotSausage

ElginHotSausage

500+ Posts
"The site being considered for the 801,800-square-foot building — which if built as planned would be second only to the 56-story Austonian in the city's skyline — is a state-owned parking lot at North Congress Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard."
ynn story:The Link
statesman story:The Link

Great project but I really hate the location. A lot of our long time tailgates will be displaced.
 
What is the law on obstructing the view of the capitol dome? I thought several years ago this was an issue when Memorial Stadium was being enlarged.
 
I think that there are specific view corridors that are protected. This building may fall outside of those areas.
 
I am pretty sure that money rezones things. If it has made it this far in the planning I assume they checked into the chances of it happening. But, you never know and they may have skipped that mere formality. But I bet they will let them build it if they have all the money and grease a couple of palms.
 
I recall when I was a child my father (a state employee) talking about the soil on that block being contaminated with waste from an old dump. That's why they topped it with impervious cover.
smokin.gif
 
You likely have at least a few, if not several seasons of tailgating there. How long ago did they close Las Manitas on Congress for the still yet to be built hotel?

That's a big expensive building and I would guess that no matter what the PR campaign is, it will be at least a few years before all the funding is in place.

There's also a decent chance this never gets built and is added to the long list of tall downtown Austin projects that died on the vine.
 
Re: What is the law on obstructing the view of the capitol dome?

Not sure what it is now, but I do recall that the first newer tall building on Congress got around height limitations by stair-steppng upper floors back from the surrounding sidewalks. Citi Council, as I recall, took a beating on that one, but not sure they changed anything.

Face it, Austin probably wants to become the largest city in Texas at some point, and I seriously doubt they will be able to keep what makes it so attractive to so many in the process.
 
We (Lot 7 tailgaters) have the 2012 college football season for sure and maybe the 2013 season. Beyond that is a hopeful wish for the LOT 7 Tailgaters (but you never know).

Several other smaller parking lots (Lot 19 and corner lot with old gas station) have been sold; plus some of the larger ones on San Jacinto &18th-MLK-Trinity (lot 12) and Congress/17th Streets (Lots 2 & 3) are part of the "Plan" for the capitol complex, i.e., years are numbered...

Some TFC real estate folks are a little ticked/miffed that the story was released last weekend. The story on the TV news and in the newspaper was definitely premature, but they were" excited about how close" they are to the project becoming reality.

There about 287 tailgating spaces with about 45 tailgates in Lot 7 that will have go their separate ways from friends and tailgating "families" in the not too distant future.

We've been tailgating in Lot 7 since 1996; before that we were in the parking lot that now holds Parking Garage R....

I (we) have made a lot of friends over the last 18 UT football seasons. Our tailgate starts with 4 of us, my chevy S10 pickup, a hibachi, and one ice chest grilling a few burgers & dogs…

we’re now 100+/- strong (depending on the game, weather, etc) with a tailgate-supply trailer and a pit on a trailer with Capital Beverage , H2Orange water and Earl Campbell Sausage as sponsors. We go through 100-150 lbs of meat each tailgate….

it's sad...but in reality we all know/knew that that prime real estate wouldn't be parking lots forever....

We've been fortunate to be able to get multiple parking spaces for tailgates in the State lots...if we move to UT lots we will have to have multiple parking passes in the same lot to set up tailgates.

Plus, there are a lot of established tailgates that we have to consider and not encroach upon (common courtesy)… believe me when I say that UT tailgaters in the State lots understand wanting to tailgate in the same locations from year to year… it’s the folks that might tailgate 1x maybe 2x per year that possibly will be the tough ones...

At least we have 1 or 2 seasons, we can dream, but progress will happen whether we want it or not….
 
Without reserved parking I must either get there very early or walk a mile. What gets my goat is the hundreds of parking spots that go unused. The lots on the west side of the stadium are only partially full and when I get to the stadium there are hundreds of handicap parking spots that go unused. UT is more concetned with finding a way to write tickets than making maxium use of the space available.
 
why is the state building a great big new building? aren't we committed to making government smaller? So why do we need a big new building. Seems like we should be tearing down some of the existing ones.

A lot of government functions can be moved out of austin except for the fact that all the pigs at that trough want to live in austin. In twenty years the only people living in austin will be californians and government employees.
 
As for buiilding a state planetarium, why not build it in Houston or San Antonio or DFW? And away from some of the priciest land in the state?

I note that the mixed use building will have condos in addition to the museum and shops. Sweet---some rich swells get to live close by the stadium and Austin gets a new tourist attraction at our expense.
 
I am fairly certain that lot used to be owned by the City of Austin, and was leased to the State of Texas. I'm not sure if that is still the case. If the state does own that lot now, I'm guessing that probably happened when the Bullock museum was built.
 
oh wow, I had not even thought of the whole meter issue. This could get nasty and I wonder if the city will relent on game days for free parking in certain quadrants.
 
I work in the Travis building at 17th and Congress and am across the street from Lot 7. They've been talking about this for a while now and it looks like they will pull the trigger very soon. It ******* SUCKS because it is going to snarl the already ****** traffic in the complex. And yes, the reason there is so much state government is because the commissioners and executives of the various agencies want to be close to the Capitol, and the Texas Facilities Commission owns those buildings so they do everything they can to keep agencies in them so that they can remain relevant. It's the part of working for state government that pisses me off.
 
They are likely thinking about it only in greedy terms. They are thinking about all the fines, tickets and money they can make from possibly even towing cars. I wonder if UT will work something out with them to relax the meter rules in a certain area or perimeter? The city makes a ton of money from game days so it could behoove them to not get greedy over a few hundred parking meters not making a couple bucks that day.
 
UT will just demand a % of the money from tickets and towing charges. Remember, the Orange Borg needs money. How much - all of it.
 
so they're raising the rate from $14 a spot per game to $30 a spot this year? I guess they're trying to get people to start giving up on lot 7 and find other places to tailgate.
 
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