Point Austin: Dreaming Downtown

Aerial view of the Stratus Corp. rendering for the Seaholm development

I don't envy the City Council members who are currently poring over corporate résumés, presentations, sketches, Power Points, and videos in an attempt to get their arms around the proposals for development of Block 21 and the Seaholm tract, the prize pieces remaining in the Second Street district and Seaholm master plans. I've been trying to do the same for a couple of weeks, without notable success, and slow as I undoubtedly am, I expect that's an argument for making certain the decision-making process is as deliberate and public as possible. There's a great deal at stake, and whatever teams and plans are chosen will largely determine the success or failure of the city's entire Second Street venture. Even those vying for the contracts are aware that if the various pieces are not assembled intelligently and as a whole, and integrated with transit and infrastructure plans, the whole district could founder.

The bottom line, of course, is money, and the most amusing moment thus far came when Daryl Slusher asked the assembled Block 21 presenters if they intended to ask for any economic incentives along with whatever financial offer (normally confidential) they planned to make. For some reason, the folks from the Endeavor/AMLI group blurted out their bid price – $9.2 million, just above the city's minimum – and indicated that indeed they expected that any "cultural entity" included in the development would bring some kind of financial consideration. That prompted Howard Yancy of the Zydeco team to offer, half-seriously, "$9.2 million plus one dollar" – only to be blown out of the water by Beau Armstrong of Stratus, which is waving a cool $15 million at the city – and asking no incentives. (Any details of the various financial proposals are not yet available.)

Whatever the council thinks of the architectural and developmental pipe dreams contemplated by the three Block 21 teams – and they're a fascinating contrast in approaches – it's going to be difficult to disregard that $15 million blinking at the bottom of the page. But it's also worth reminding ourselves that whatever happens to the heart of our city is a very long-term commitment, with implications far beyond the immediate purchase price. Architect Juan Miró of the Zydeco group was the most eloquent in addressing what should be at issue as the city takes up the conversation. "This is a chance to really talk about all the things that we aspire to," he said, "and the values of Austin that we think are related to democracy, culture, entertainment, and civic pride." It's good advice to keep in mind.

Seaholm Dreams

Moving over to Seaholm, the conversation promises to get both a little more abstract and more confusing. Nominally, the city has requested only "qualifications" – that is, credentials and experience for the four assembled development teams, which include a few of the same players as Block 21. But the Seaholm tract represents both more limitations (because of the buildings already on site) and more imaginative possibilities (because of the more interesting configuration and the power plant itself) than the square Block 21 (which is physically tethered to the new City Hall). In official theory, at least, the plans introduced to the council by the various teams don't even qualify as "proposals" – whatever is actually built on the tract is still entirely subject to further official and public discussion, and might in the end fail to resemble any of the current renderings.

In amusing practice, however, the teams came armed with a brace of grandiose proposed combinations of museum venues, concert halls, public plazas, train and bus depots, apartment complexes and hotels (I didn't see a space station in the mix, but there's still time), and it will be very difficult for the judges to precisely distinguish the singers from the songs. Since the city's official process includes a gag order on "lobbying" by the applicants, right now there's a lot of back-door and off-the-record buzzing going on instead, by applicants concerned that the procedure has effectively but clumsily morphed from a "request for qualifications" to a "request for proposals." (You can see the extent of the kibitzing from today's "Postmarks," where the Redheaded Stranger himself assures Chronicle readers that – pace a qualifying adjective in last week's "Naked City" – he is, with nephew Freddy Fletcher, a "full equity partner" of the Stratus team, ready and able to transform Seaholm into Willieville. God bless Texas.)

So the fun has just begun, and not only the council but all of us get to weigh in on what we want the Downtown waterfront to become for the long haul, and whether these various private interests have what it will take to transform Second Street into a coherent, lively, community-oriented, citizen-friendly domain for decades to come.

Beside the Point ...

But the fun stuff will have to wait. Thursday's council meeting (today) takes up more mundane matters, like Brewster McCracken's attempt to get the city to do what the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization recently rejected – an independent study of the pending toll road plan that might at least generate some ways to limit the size and scope of it. With co-sponsors Jackie Goodman and Raul Alvarez, McCracken will likely pick up the majority here that was inconceivable at CAMPO, although whatever comes of the study may carry little weight with the regional planning team. Also on tap: the anti-smoking petitions (to be added to the May 7 ballot); revisitation of the Transit-Oriented Development Ordinance; a couple of vexed zoning cases, most notably the unresolved historic zoning case at 609 West Lynn and a brace of related Old West Austin tracts.