The grassroots effort to bring attention to the plight of Las Manitas Avenue Cafe and Escuelita del Alma daycare center has been catching fire. In the wake of news that the well-loved Austin restaurant and child care center are to be displaced by a new $185 million megahotel complex, City Hall has been hearing from Austinites concerned about preserving the character-rich local businesses. Escuelita representatives were invited to meet this week with City Manager Toby Futrell to explore alternatives for keeping the child care center downtown.
Las Manitas owners Cynthia and Lidia Pérez are proceeding to explore a move into the historic building that currently houses La Pena. But irrepressible civic voice Cynthia Pérez would like to see a march and rally at City Hall to protest the larger issue of the city kowtowing to corporate interests. “This is a big boys’ game, and it’s not happening just to us – it’s happening to all of us in Austin,” Perez said.
While an early conceptual rendering of the proposed hotel complex released by project developer White Lodging Services Corp. was uninspiring, company spokeswoman Judy Bronowski said, “Please don’t take that literally. We’re in the very earliest preliminary stages, and the project is not even scheduled to move forward until next summer.” The proposed opening is summer of 2009.
That should be good news to Mary Ogden, owner of the Copa building, who contacted the Chronicle to express exasperation that no one from current owner the Finley Company or White Lodging had contacted her about their plans, yet her building seemed to have disappeared in the project rendering.
The triumvirate of hotels proposed for the block would add 1,000 rooms that could let the expanded Austin Convention Center attract bigger conventions. Proposed is a 26-story Marriott, a 15-story SpringHill Suites by Marriott, and an 11-story Renaissance Hotel. Bronowski said that while the early studies had been prepared by the Chicago office of design firm HOK, selection of an architect has not been finalized.
HOK Director of Design Todd Halamka stressed that, “The site for our project stops at the property line of the historic buildings. Our style is to work with people to do good urban projects – sustainable buildings that contribute to the urban fabric in a positive way over the long term. … It’s really important that we respect the scale and life of the pedestrian, and embody the historic character of the sidewalk and the streetscape.”
This article appears in August 18 • 2006.