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Austin FC stadium, Giga Texas, Waterloo Park and 5 Austin towers slated for delivery in 2021

Despite the pandemic, and uncertainty about the future of office work, new towers and other developments continue to spring up across Austin.
This year, some significant downtown projects, as well as major new projects from Tesla and Austin FC that are farther afield, will officially open. Here are eight to look out for:
1. Office tower at 300 Colorado St.
(Cousins Properties)
This 32-story office building at 300 Colorado St. is scheduled to be completed this quarter. Developed by Cousins Properties, the tower will be home to Austin-based oil and gas company Parsley Energy, which has leased all of its office space. It will also be home to retail tenant Del Frisco's Grille.
2. Office tower at 405 Colorado St.
(Brandywine Realty Trust)
This 25-story office building at 405 Colorado St. is also scheduled to be completed this quarter. Developed by Brandywine Realty Trust, its tenants will include the investment management and research firm AllianceBernstein. According to the developer's website, the tower boasts an above-market parking ratio, "making it one of the easiest places to park" downtown.
3. Hotel tower at 5th & Brazos
This 32-story mixed use tower at 501 Brazos St. will open this quarter. Developed by the Magellan Development Group, the building will include tenants Thompson Hotels, a luxury boutique hotel chain that is owned by Hyatt and has outposts in Nashville and Chicago, and tommie hotels, a micro-hotel company that caters to a younger market.
4. Indeed Tower on 6th Street
(Trammell Crow)
This 36-story office building at 200 W. Sixth St. will be completed this March, according to developer Trammell Crow. Tenants include the worldwide employment website Indeed, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and the Austin-based title insurance company Heritage Title. The site of this forthcoming tower was formerly a post office built in 1914.
5. Austin FC Stadium at McKalla Place
The $260 million Austin FC stadium is scheduled to open at 10414 McKalla Place in North Austin this spring, ahead of the Major League Soccer club's inaugural season. It will hold 20,500 spectators and include a 400-person capacity beer hall and multi-level team store. Austin FC's parent company and ownership group, Two Oak Ventures, privately financed the stadium.
6. Waterloo Park in Central Austin
(Waterloo Greenway/Twitter)
Waterloo Greenway, an urban park system that runs 1.5 miles along Waller Creek from 15th Street to Lady Bird Lake, will soon debut its first phase project: Waterloo Park. The 11-acre park is bordered by East 15th, Red River, East 12th and Trinity streets and will open this spring.
7. Giga Texas in Southeast Travis County
🏗 Giga Texas https://t.co/0D6QV1Fcsa— Omead Afshar (@Omead Afshar) 1608435261.0
The forthcoming Tesla Gigafactory in Southeast Travis County is expected to be up and running by the end of this year, with the first substantial completion, or construction milestone, scheduled for May, according to the Austin Chamber of Commerce. The $1.1 billion, 2,100-acre, 7.9-million-square-foot factory will provide at least 5,000 jobs, not including the thousands of construction workers who are currently building it. Omead Afshar, project director within Tesla's office of the CEO, tweeted a photo of the factory's progress on Dec. 19.
8. The Quincy in the Rainey Street District
(Endeavor Real Estate Group)
This 29-story office and multi-family tower at 93 Red River St. will be completed in the third quarter of this year, according to developer Endeavor Real Estate Group. It will join recent high-rise additions in the Rainey Street Historical District, including the residential towers 70 Rainey and 44 East as well as a 51-story mixed-use building planned for 90-92 Rainey St.
- Austin FC installs stadium seats, stadium opening in spring - austonia ›
- Austin sees rent drop amid COVID, a rare boon to tenants - austonia ›
- Elon Musk announces Austin Gigafactory will open in 2021 - austonia ›
- Elon Musk is spotted driving a Cybertruck through Giga Texas - austonia ›
- New building seems to be in the works on Giga Texas site, records show - austonia ›
- 5 mixed-use developments that will change Austin by 2030 - austonia ›
- TikTok eyes office tower in downtown austin - austonia ›
- Waterloo Park to open Aug. 14 with Gary Clark Jr. concert Aug. 21 - austonia ›
- Facebook could soon occupy some of Austin's tallest building - austonia ›
- Austin's Waterloo Greenway plans for Phase 2 with $9 million grant - austonia ›
- The towers that will shape Austin's skyline in the 2020s - austonia ›
- Tesla smashes into pole in Jared Padalecki's car wreck - austonia ›
- Mixed-use community coming between Austin and San Antonio - austonia ›
Popular
(Moriah Wilson/Instagram)
Austin police are investigating the killing of Moriah "Mo" Wilson after she was found with gunshot wounds inside an Austin home.
Wilson, a gravel and mountain bike racer, was visiting Austin from Colorado in preparation for the Gravel Locos race on Saturday taking place in Hico, a small town 2 hours from Austin.
On Wednesday, her roommate came home and found Wilson unresponsive with "a lot of blood near her,” police said. It is now being investigated as a suspicious death. No further information on the suspect or motive behind the killing are available at this time.
Wilson recently had become a full-time biker after winning a slew of races in the past year.
(Pexels)
Some of your favorite Instagram filters can’t be used in Texas anymore and Austinites are sounding off on social media.
Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, announced on Wednesday that certain filters would no longer be available in Texas.
The change is a result of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against Meta, alleging the company uses facial recognition technology that violates laws in Texas. A release from Meta says it stopped using facial recognition tech in November 2021 and denies Paxton’s allegations.
Some Austinites bemoaned the shift, saying some of their favorite filters were now unavailable.
This was my FAVORITE filter on @instagram and they done removed it cause I’m in Texas ! Like wowwwwww pic.twitter.com/uX60hdIC0Q
— Pinkyy Montana (@inkstar_pinkyy) May 11, 2022
i heard that instagram filters got banned in texas? what the actual fuck y’all better give me my favorite filter back
— lia 🤍 (@liatootrill) May 11, 2022
loved this stupid filter sm i hate texas pic.twitter.com/DXr9mmUc64
— birthday boy jeno 🎂 (@beabtox) May 12, 2022
But more often than not, locals joked about the ban.
Texas women seeing the filter ban on IG pic.twitter.com/yDMcP3Qtsr
— Christian (Anabolic) Flores (@christian_flo24) May 11, 2022
So, the state of Texas has banned filter use on IG? THE END IS NEAR. 😂
— THE FRANCHISE! Франшиза (@NYCFranchise718) May 12, 2022
And some in-between chose to show off some natural beauty.
I live in Texas, but no filter needed. 😉 pic.twitter.com/A6teRgYMKn
— bad and bruja (@starseedmami) May 11, 2022
filter, no filter..texas women still reign supreme.
— 🎍 (@_sixile) May 11, 2022
Finally, some are trying to cash in on the opportunity.
Texas IG users- if you want to filter your picture cashapp me $1.50 $ErvnYng
— Gemini (@ervn_y) May 11, 2022
Meta said it plans to create an opt-in system for both Texas and Illinois residents, who are facing the same issues.