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The weather may be starting to get a tiny little chill in the air but downtown Austin was warm this weekend with the fun and exciting Pecan Street Festival. This bi-annual street fair has been a part of Austin’s yearly calendar for almost thirty years now and it never fails to bring the city’s residents out in droves to enjoy the treats of arts and crafts, live music and great food. The festival seems to get bigger and better with each year that passes and residents attending this year’s event report that it continues to be a great featured event of downtown Austin.

The Pecan Street Festival is held on 6th Street, home to downtown Austin’s entertainment scene. The music scene that the city is known for thrives here and this is reflected in the live music that is an important part of the festival. There were six different stages set up this year including everything from a Latin stage to a children’s stage. These offered not only performances but also dance lessons and provided a good time to everyone in Austin who made it out for the event.

Although the music is an important part of the Pecan Street Festival, most people go primarily to check out the arts and crafts that are sold by the vendors who come to share their wares at the event. Local and regional artists were out there selling everything from hand carved djembe drums to watches made from wood, coconut and fiber. Traditional jewelry and painting crafts were also represented here.

The Pecan Street Festival is representative of a lot of the things that are really great about Austin and it’s fitting that the event is held in downtown Austin which is where the heartbeat of the city really is these days. The merging of music and art, the coming together of a community and the blending of both a historic event and a modern one are all what downtown Austin seems to be about right now. The Pecan Street Festival offered a tangible way to celebrate that!

More than 3,000 people have landed in Austin’s temporary shelters as they try to escape the devastation that Hurricane Ike has caused further south in Texas. An additional unknown number of evacuees are staying in Austin hotels for the same reason. Although these people will eventually be returning to their own homes, the city of Austin has welcomed them with open arms during their time of need.

The city of Austin has erected more than twenty different temporary shelters for people to live in while they are waiting to be able to return home to cities like Houston and Galveston. Some of these people are already starting to head out of the shelters this weekend but many others plan to remain in Austin a little bit longer while the devastation at home gets sorted out.

During the time that these evacuees are staying in Austin, they are being assisted in a variety of different ways. In addition to the shelter that they are receiving, they are able to get food in the shelter as the result of donations collected by the Capital Area Food Bank. Donations have come in from Austin residents living all throughout the city and the surrounding area. Evacuees are also able to get around the city for free using Austin’s bus system which won’t charge fares to anyone wearing a shelter wristband.

This is a testimony to the fact that although Austin has a tight-knit community of its own, the city is always willing to extend that sense of home to others coming to them from throughout the rest of the state (and other parts of the nation as well). This is one of the things that residents love about Austin and one of the things that is getting strengthened every day as the Austin community continues to come together.

A lot of people have started to move in to downtown Austin in order to take advantage of the stylish lifestyle, the eco-friendly urban lifestyle and the many activities that take place in the area. If you are one of those people that has a budding interest in making the move to downtown Austin but you aren’t quite sure if you are ready to do so then you might want to learn more about what life is like as a downtown resident. A great way to do this could be to take a tour of the living accommodations in downtown Austin which you can do next month when the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Alliance (DANA) holds its 5th annual tour of downtown living spaces.

The tour allows people who are interested in downtown Austin to see what it’s actually like to live there. Downtown residential projects that are going to be featured on the tour this year include the Austonian, Gables West and the 360 Condominiums. Those people who opt to purchase VIP tickets (which only run $30 each) can enjoy a pre-tour poolside party at the 360 Condominiums which are considered to be one of the hottest places to live in downtown Austin today. (Incidentally, the condos at this development are sold out but there’s a waiting list for those people who hope to get lucky and get a space in there at some point.)

The annual tour has been taking place for five years now but this year is really exciting because people attending the tour are really going to see a different Austin than what they might have seen just one or two years ago. The urban development in this area has been intense and the result is that there are not only residential spaces to see downtown but also a wealth of entertainment and retail hot spots to appreciate.

One of the best things about the revitalization of downtown Austin is that people are going to be spending time down in this area on a more frequent basis for the variety of events that are being held here. The bad news is that this means that traffic is going to increase in downtown Austin particularly during times when big events are being held. This weekend demonstrated a clear example of that with road closures put into place for events including the season’s first Longhorns game and several foot races like the Austin Triathlon and the Nike Human Race. These closures caused redirection of traffic that choked up some of downtown Austin.

There are two pieces of good news in regards to this influx of both event-based and daily traffic in downtown Austin. The first is that the city has some good controls in place in terms of traffic enforcement to make sure that residents driving through the area know exactly where it is that they are supposed to be going when roads are altered due to events. The second is that downtown Austin has now become such a multi-use area that it is possible to get around in downtown Austin without needing to use a car.

Downtown Austin is really being developed with an eye towards keeping people centralized in the area. This means that commutes can be avoided by those living in the area who now also choose to do their shopping and get their entertainment within walking distance of their downtown homes. The installation of new bike racks and the improvement of public transportation in the area are making it so that people have many options in terms of car-free transportation here. As more and more people move into the area to experience the lifestyle and events that are available, it will be increasingly important for those living in downtown Austin to make lifestyle choices that involve getting around without a car.

The Downtown Austin Alliance has issued a Request for Proposals asking artists for designs that will serve as sculptural bike racks along Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. These bike racks will be both aesthetically pleasing and functional. Furthermore, they represent three important concerns for the development taking place in downtown Austin: the interest in beautifying downtown Austin, the support and development of creative endeavors in the city and the eco-friendly value of having a multi-use downtown area in the city.

The sculptural art will serve to enhance the appearance of downtown Austin. The art will be chosen to reflect the work of local artists and to encourage people who are being creative in the city to turn their attention to helping beautify the growing downtown area. Downtown Austin is becoming revitalized with attention to the importance of an artistic way of life. Galleries, museums and performance event spaces are all lighting up with events that are designed to help revive the creative spirit in this area. The new bike rack sculptures are another part of bringing art to the daily lives of the people who are residing in downtown Austin.

Those people who are moving into downtown Austin today are encouraged to consider a car-free way of life. The condos that are being erected in the city are multi-use spaces which allow the downtown area to now provide residential, work, retail and entertainment functions. This means that people can do all that they need to do in this one small-but-growing area of the city. This helps to reduce the reliance of people on cars in the city and encourages an eco-friendly approach to living in the downtown area. Having accessible bike racks throughout the downtown area makes it easier for residents to adapt to this twenty-first century approach to living.

There is a lot to do in downtown Austin these days but that doesn’t mean that some of the classic activities and attractions there should now be forgotten. The downtown Austin area has long been the home of several different museums that remain worth checking out even as new opportunities for entertainment become available in the neighborhood.

Arguably one of the best museums in downtown Austin for both locals and visitors to experience is the Austin Museum of Art. This museum actually has two different locations in Austin but the one located downtown is arguably the better of the two because of the fact that it offers more cutting-edge exhibitions than its sister location. People who want to see the creative side of Austin will love this place whether they live in the area or not.

Another must-visit museum in downtown Austin that is appreciated as much by visitors as it is by locals is the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Texas is definitely a state that is proud of its heritage and you can learn all about that history at this downtown museum. Despite being about the past, this is no boring museum; there’s even an IMAX theatre here to provide all-ages entertainment and education about the area.

For families who are living in the downtown Austin area, a favorite pick besides the IMAX at the history museum is the Austin Children’s Museum. The interactive exhibits are designed to engage children and interest them in learning and exploration. What you’ll find as an adult is that you don’t have to be young to enjoy the museum.

Those three museums are the top-rated museums in downtown Austin. They aren’t the only museums, though. You can check out the historic home and museum of author O. Henry, review the archives at the Lyndon B. Johnson memorial museum or experience the culture of Mexican fine arts at the Mexic-Arte museum. There’s plenty to see in downtown Austin – both indoors and out!

One of the downtown accommodations projects that a lot of people have been excited to watch develop is The Sabine on 5th condominiums. They were slated for 2008 completion and have indeed been completed and are now ready for move-in. This shows that downtown Austin development is on track and gives people in the area something to not only be excited about but also to be proud of.

The Sabine is an interesting project in part because it was a conversion project. In the location where it now stands (on Waller Creek) was an office space that was mostly empty and unused. That space was converted into a great condominium offering eighty different condos across ten floors. The fact that this conversion was successful speaks to the value of the many repurposed construction efforts going on in the downtown area.

The Sabine is considered one of the most cutting-edge condo communities to crop up in downtown Austin in recent months.  If you are the kind of person who likes the style of European furnishings (like IKEA) and the accommodations available in boutique hotels then you’re going to be the kind of person who feels comfortable in the trendy, edgy, modernly-designed condos that make up The Sabine.

You’re also going to like these condos if you’re a fan of the spa and fitness amenities at hotels that you visit when vacationing. That’s because The Sabine is located right next door to Hilton Garden Inn, a hotel that happily shares its spa, fitness and resort-like amenities with the new residents of the modern condo building.

In addition to the fresh and funky design of the new condo building, the location makes The Sabine on 5th a great condo choice for those people who are interested in being immersed in the emerging life of the city. It’s situated in the entertainment district so there is absolutely always something to do here. And with views of downtown Austin, the homes here are going to make sure that you always know what it is that’s going on.

One of the major reasons that people are interested in the revitalization of downtown Austin is that this trend is going to make Austin a greener city. People are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of taking citywide actions to become more environmentally friendly. Encouraging people to live, work and play in the downtown area will reduce commute lengths and gas usage and will therefore increase the “greenness” of Austin. However, some say that being green in Austin is still more difficult than it should be and that the city should be making greater efforts to improve the ease of being green.

One example of this that has come up in the news recently is the fact that prices are being raised on garbage collection fees. The plan to raise the fees was initially intended to be a green plan; fees were going to be high for large trash cans but they were going to remain low for the smallest trash cans. If this had happened, it would have encouraged recycling in Austin because people would want to keep the amount of trash that they had low enough to fit in the small trash cans. However, this wasn’t the case. Instead, fees were raised on all sizes of trash cans. Many residents argue that this decreases the incentive to recycle and makes it less likely that Austin is going to be a city where people will recycle instead of throwing their stuff in the trash.

Recycling is just one example of what Austin can do to encourage green living in the city. It is likely that green actions taken by the city are going to be more welcome in the emerging downtown Austin area because of the fact that there is such an emphasis in this area on the “greenness” of downtown living. If an effort is made, this area could become a highly important area in terms of motivating the green movement in Austin and increasing the overall eco-friendliness of the city.

Anyone who is familiar with downtown Austin is probably aware of the fact that between two of the city’s most-visited landmarks (The Texas Capitol and Lady Bird Lake) there is a twelve-block stretch of street called Congress Avenue. This used to be a bustling downtown area but it’s been several decades since there were more than a few buildings active in this area. And that’s a good thing – because it means that this area is ripe for development in a time when everyone is turning their eyes eagerly towards improving downtown neighborhoods.

Despite the growth of the surrounding downtown area, the redevelopment of Congress Avenue has been a bit slow. Some say that it’s one of the few places left in downtown Austin where you really don’t see anyone hanging around after five on a weekday. But there are several changes taking place around here that indicate this could become a much more active area in a really short period of time.

Some of the recent changes improving Congress Avenue include:

• The Austonian. This really impressive condo development is being constructed at Congress Avenue and 2nd Street. This will bring new residents right to this area and therefore will increase the amount of activity seen there as soon as it opens.
• Google is in town. The high-tech Internet industry is making Austin more popular than ever. Google has leased space in the area of Congress and Sixth.
• Several large stores are opening. For example, national retailer Patagonia is about to open in the area between Third and Fourth right on Congress.

These changes hint at good things for this part of downtown Austin. With new residents, new businesses and new retail shops opening up, there is going to be a lot more to see and do here. It will be a place as busy after five and on weekends as it is during the work week. And the best part is that the changes taking place here have only just begun. It’s a part of downtown Austin that is really set to grow rapidly and a place worth keeping an eye on if you’re interested in changes going on in the city.

There isn’t a part of downtown Austin that has gone untouched in the face of the area’s growth. However, the west end of downtown has received less attention from investors to date than other areas of the neighborhood. That fact has started to change as both retailers and residential builders have turned their attention to the emerging popularity of West Fifth Street. This street serves as a manjor gateway into downtown and people are starting to realize that this gives it an invaluable position in an area that is seeing extensive growth and development. Existing businesses are getting a facelift, new businesses are going up and recently-constructed apartment buildings are already filling up with people who want to live in this hot new part of downtown.

The West Fifth Street area is an area that should have been attractive to people for a long time. After all, it leads straight into downtown Austin and is passed through daily by people commuting to work in the downtown area. However, it has long been a place that people ignored because it was only filled with warehouses and car lots. A few retail shops and restaurants hung in there over the years but there wasn’t much reason for most people to head to the area. That has changed as those old businesses have made improvements and new businesses have come into the area.

One of the biggest businesses to ignite the trendiness of this neighborhood was Whole Foods. When it came to the neighborhood, people started paying attention to what was going on there. This sparked a realization among local business owners that West Fifth could be a great place for investment. New restaurants and retail shops seem to be popping up almost daily in the area now. This is boosted by the fact that there are some major building projects here; over 300 apartments are expected to be erected by year’s end and the area will also get its first big office project since the Frost Bank Tower went up four years ago.

One of the most interesting projects to date has been the building of 5th Street Commons, a mixed-use building located at West Fifth and Campbell which is due to open in December. A similar mixed-use building called Pressler will open on the north end of West Fifth in March. Together these two buildings will bring over 300 apartments and 60,000 square feet of retail space to West Fifth. The popularity of the up-and-coming neighborhood is evidenced by the fact that the majority of these apartments are already pre-rented to people who can’t wait to live in this area.