Council Scuttles Lumbermen's Plan; It's Back to the Drawing Boards

AUSTIN-With a middle course rejected, Lumbermen’s Investment Corp. is taking another look at plans for its mixed-use development on the banks of Austin’s centerpiece waterway, Town Lake.

The Austin City Council Thursday denied a zoning change that would have allowed Lumbermen’s to build a 180-foot-tall building on the 4.5 acres as part of a development that would include retail, office and residential space. In that plan, the 180-foot building would have been set back in the northwest corner of the property with the rest of the structures stair-stepped to lower heights with the shortest buildings closest to the lake.

The property is at the northeast corner of Cesar Chavez Street and Lamar Boulevard and just west of the former Seaholm Power Plant, which is to be renovated into a museum.The four council members voting against the zoning change cited the comments of environmentalists that such a tall building is inappropriate for the location.

One path for Lumbermen’s is to build a 220-foot-tall tower, which is allowed under the property’s current zoning. That zoning was approved about 10 years ago. Or, it could construct buildings of similar size. A Lumbermen’s representative, presenting models of the options to the council, called the latter design reminiscent of a Soviet-style development.