2010-09
december 26
Re-energizing Seaholm
Downtown corner to be remade into vibrant district
By Shonda Novak
Over the next decade, the southwest corner of downtown will undergo dramatic change, as a 13-acre area that once was largely city-owned land is reshaped into a dynamic urban neighborhood with residences, shops, restaurants, and entertainment and cultural attractions.
The land is within the larger Seaholm District, bounded by Lamar Boulevard, San Antonio and West Fifth streets and Lady Bird Lake that is named after the landmark former power plant. The 13 acres includes the largest assemblage of city-owned land downtown that remains for potential redevelopment.
Five major projects, including redevelopment of the former Seaholm Power Plant and Green Water Treatment Plant sites, along with recent private projects nearby, will represent about $2 billion in new investment for the district, said Fred Evins, the city's project manager for the Green and Seaholm redevelopment.
... John Rosato, a principal with Southwest Strategies Group, lead developer on Seaholm, said the projects will be "transformational for downtown."
september 1
Junior League buys land for future expansion
Site in Northwest Austin also expected to host other nonprofits' events, help preserve greenbelt
By Brian Gaar
About three years ago, a space and needs assessment showed that the group needed about twice as much space as it has now, Haralson said. At that point, the Junior League had grown to more than 2,000 members, and its current facility couldn't hold general meetings, she said. With parking needs, the group found itself landlocked, she said.
... Southwest Strategies broker Mike Wiley assisted the league in its land search.
Seaholm Power Plant’s blank canvas spurs imagination in event planners
By Sandra Zaragoza
It’s supposed to be a dormant, quiet, old electric plant waiting to be redeveloped in the coming years, but the Seaholm Power Plant has unexpectedly become an in-demand setting for exclusive parties, concerts and black-tie fundraisers.
Despite being stripped of the typical niceties found in hotels or traditional event venues — it doesn’t have electricity, running water or bathrooms — Seaholm has attracted some impressive bookings.
The historic nature of the building has lured MTV, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Rare magazine. Paramount Pictures leased the iconic building for about six weeks this spring to film the remake of “True Grit.”
... Adding to the building’s novelty is that the opportunity to see Seaholm in its raw condition may end this year. According to Southwest Strategies Group, the company chosen by the city to redevelop Seaholm and its surrounding land, the long-awaited project may be turning dirt as early as next year.
Under the agreement with the city, the power plant will stay intact, but Southwest Strategies will turn it into a retail, restaurant and event center. Plans also call for a hotel and residential component, a two-story retail and office building, and an outdoor plaza.
John Rosato of Southwest Strategies said the city is meeting its obligations for environmental cleanup at the site. With the progress the city is making, Rosato believes his company could begin developing the site in 2011.
Rosato said Southwest Strategies plans to maintain Seaholm's integrity while giving it modern conveniences that would enable it to accommodate events.
july 16
may 21
Boutique hotel may sprout downtown
Section of Congress Avenue would get its first new lodging option since 1966
By Shonda Novak
John Rosato represented the family that has owned the building since 1893.
..."This building is one of a handful of original structures that remain along Congress Avenue that are more than 100 years old," Rosato said. "It is absolutely ideal for a boutique hotel," he said, citing its "charming architecture" and location.
may 5
'Party of the Decade' planned for September Fete
By Michael Barnes
Ballet Austin event chairwoman Andrea McWilliams, co-founder of McWilliams & Associates lobbying firm, is planning the 'party of the decade' for Sept. 10.
Dubbed 'Fete to the Power of 10,' the gala will include pricey cocktails, dinner and performances staged by Stephen Mills at the Butler Dance Education Center (tables go for $10,000; individual tickets for $1,000). Tickets for the performance -celebrating Mills - 10 years as artistic director - cost $250.
The party will migrate to the Seaholm Power Plant for an evening-long event (tickets: $95-$125).
february 24
Such a deal: MTV gets Seaholm for $500 a day during SXSW
By Michael Corcoran
With downtown party space at a premium during South by Southwest, MTV has managed to work out an agreement with the City of Austin to rent the former Seaholm Power Plant for $500 a day over six days. You read that right: no zeroes are missing.
“Wow,” publicist Elaine Garza said, incredulously, at the bargain rate. “Some people are paying $10,000 to rent a club during the day. Seaholm is the hot space. Everybody’s been trying to get it.”
Gloria Aguilera of the City’s Real Estate Services Division said MTV reserved Seaholm, which has 117,000 square feet of space, after doing a few tapings at last year’s SXSW. Aguilera said the price is only $500 a day because there is no electricity or bathrooms in the warehouse-like shell.
Also, the low rental fee adhere’s to city ordinance #20080306-038, an economic growth initiative signed by then-mayor Will Wynn at SXSW 2008, which encourages filming of movies and television programs in Austin.
Several party planners were fighting over Seaholm, Aguilera said, including Rare magazine, which had been contracted by SXSW to put on a couple events, and Perez Hilton, who wanted MTV out at 5 p.m. Saturday so he could host his now-annual SXSW-closing bash. But MTV had already secured the hot spot.
february 23
MTV to take over Seaholm during SXSW
By Michael Corcoran
The vacant Seaholm Power Plant, which is managed for temporary use by Austin’s Real Estate Services Division, will be occupied during South by Southwest by MTV, the city’s Gloria Aguilera said Monday. “They’ll be filming there all four days,” Aguilera said.
2009
Building downtown density, toll roads created opportunity
By Kate Harrington
For John Rosato, a principal with Austin's Southwest Strategies Group, Inc., two significant economic downturns coupled with periods of wild prosperity are among the biggest factors that have shaped the area's commercial real estate industry. During the decade, Rosato has had a front-row seat to developments that have shaped parts of Austin during both downturns, as well.
Southwest Strategies Group helped develop the 16-acre Penn Field project on South Congress Avenue. Penn Field was among the first South Congress projects to take off. It has anchored a rapidly changing area that now draws natives and tourists alike. The former World War I Army training field and its existing buildings is now a 230,000-square-foot retail, office and warehouse complex.
december 25-31
Let's make a deal
By Kate Harrington
Opportunity not yet knocking for all
Now is a good time for those who are well-capitalized tos ave on rentals and purchases, said Daniel Roth, a principal with Southwest Strategies Group. But he said bargain seekers won't always find dramatic 50 percent savings in rental and sales prices that some may hope are out there; such cuts are closer to 10 to 15 percent.
And in many cases, Roth said, this environment has not yielded better deals, particularly in some of the older properties he works with. That may be because their owners bought them with more equity, which Southwest Strategies started doing several years ago, and have the cushion to wait longer.
july 24
Highland Mall today ... but what about tomorrow?
By Kate Harrington
Daniel Roth, Principal
Southwest Strategies Group
"The property could be repurposed, but I don't see it long term as a mall," Roth said. "The question is what would it be in its new purpose. Our specialty, and I think something a lot of people would look at, is mixed-use – maybe with retail pushed to the edges.
... We're the home of state, county and city government, and lots of public education facilities. If it was handed to me tomorrow, I'd be approaching all those entities as well as retailers and residential."
Crestview Station and Mueller are models for the type of mixed-use development that could occupy the Highland Mall site, he said.
april 17-23
01_Adaptive Reuse
Four preservation projects -- a barn, a grain elevator, a nurses' dormitory, and a power plant -- show that repurposing old buildings for new uses needn't sacrifice soul.
The Architects Newspaper
Seaholm
Austin, Texas
Ayers Saint Gross
On a prominent site separating a booming downtown residential district from Town Lake, the Seaholm Power Plant, built in the 1950s, is one of Austin’s most distinctive midcentury structures. Its red neon sign, towering stacks, and stark concrete mass are immediately recognizable landmarks. So when it was decommissioned in 1996, and following a nine-year remediation of hazardous materials, the city drafted a redevelopment masterplan and issued an RFQ to develop the site.
The winning team, including Southwest Strategies Group and Baltimore architects Ayers Saint Gross (ASG), programmed the site for new high- and low-rise construction to house a mix of office, residential, hospitality, and special-event space. The Seaholm building itself, with its cavernous turbine hall ringed by high clerestory windows, was envisioned as a retail center. “The model is the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco,” said Ann Powell of ASG.
april 15
Travis may join city in Seaholm taxing district
By Suzannah Gonzales
Travis County commissioners, lured by the prospect of gaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue, voted Tuesday to advise the City of Austin that they're willing to join a taxing district to help redevelop the former Seaholm Power Plant.
Seaholm currently generates no tax money because the property is owned by the city, but officials hope the site on West Cesar Chavez Street will become a $117 million mix of shops, offices and condominiums and will include a boutique hotel and special-events space.
... The proposed structure of the (Seaholm financing district) is for the proceeds to help offset the costs of the redevelopment of the power plant, addition of a plaza and transportation improvements," said John Rosato, lead developer of Seaholm Power LLC, which is spearheading the redevelopment.
april 15
416 Congress for sale
126-year-old building never changed hands; pitched as a 'piece of Texas history'
by Kate Harrington
The building is being marketed for sale by the family, members of which declined to comment. John Rosato, a principal with Austin-based Southwest Strategies Group, who is representing the owners, said the family started talking about selling the building late last year.
... "Anyone who buys it will probably want a piece of Texas history," Rosato said.
april 10-16
Planned Seaholm Development puts retired power plant to different use
by Mark Collins
For nearly 40 years the Seaholm Power Plant on Cesar Chavez provided energy for residents. Now on the verge of a major transformation, the power plant will serve Austin in a completely different capacity.
... “It is one of the most interesting spaces I’ve ever been in, and I’m a 69-year-old architect that has traveled the world and seen a lot of spaces,” Black said. “I’ve never seen a space more interesting than the inside of that building; it really is a magnificent thing inside.”
... “We were very intrigued by the power plant and spent a tremendous amount of time there,” lead developer John Rosato said. “That has been the main purpose of our design team — figuring out how we take an industrial site and convert the building into retail and offices while maintaining its character.”