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Austin's skyline is changing and growing upwards with a leaked new 74-story mixed-use building downtown that promises to be the tallest in the city, possibly even tallest in Texas, once it is completed.
On the corner of West Cesar Chavez and Red River Street, Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential are developing what will be called "Waller Creek," a roughly 1,024 foot tall tower on the edge of Lady Bird Lake. The tower will qualify as a "supertall" skyscaper because it will be more than 984 feet.
Reports of the tower were first discovered by Towers, which saw renderings leaked by a user named Paco Jones on a Houston Architecture forum depicting a giant mixed-use building on land currently owned by WeWork. Seth Johnston, senior vice president for LPC's Austin office, confirmed with Towers that the posted details are "relatively accurate."
The tower will consist of a five-star hotel, 25 levels of office floors, 34 levels of residential space, and a parking garage with three underground levels and 12 above levels. The lot, which is on approximately three acres of land, is currently a parking lot and has been for around 20 years.
(Paco Jones)
The tower is poised to become the tallest skyscraper in Texas, followed by The Independent on 301 West Ave., lovingly known as "the Jenga Tower," which stands at 685 feet. The 6X Guadalupe, located on 400 West 6th St. and also by LPC and Kairoi, is next in line to be the tallest building, which will stand 845 feet once it is completed.
Currently, the tallest building in Texas is the JP Morgan Chase Tower, standing at 1,002 feet in Houston.
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(Dolce Neve)
He's since been offering that same experience for the past seven years with his artisanal gelato shop, Dolce Neve, in Austin, alongside his sister and her husband.
Leo Ferrarese, Marco and Franscesa Silvestrini run Dolce Neve. (Dolce Neve)
While gelato always played a big role in Silvestrini's life, it wasn't in his plans to take on a business with his favorite treat. After a few years in New York working as a management consultant, he felt he was missing out on something. "I decided to take a step back and started thinking, what could... I do to make society better and happier, even just for a moment," Silvestrini said.
He thought back to his childhood and the role gelato played in it and wanted to offer the same experience to Americans.
Once he had the product idea down, it came down to location. Growing up among farmers in a small community in Central Italy, Silvestrini knew he wanted a slower pace of living than New York, so he asked around. The answer he got: "Austin." The only thing he knew about what would become his future home was it had a Formula 1 track.
But after visiting once, he felt a great sense of community he didn't feel in The Empire State. "I felt it was not just a good place for a concept like mine, but also a good place to live because at the end of the day, you cannot just think about your business," he said.
"Dolce Neve" translates to "sweet snow." The shops offers 12-18 flavors at a time. (Dolce Neve)
Similarly, his sister Francesca Silvestrini was experiencing the same feelings while studying for her Ph.D. in Ohio before teaming up with Silvestrini. She went back to Italy to be properly trained in making gelato while Silvestrini focused on the business plan. They brought Leo Ferrarese, her husband, onboard and opened their first shop on South First Street in January 2014. The rest is history.
On the menu, you'll find various traditional and innovative flavors that rotate out. Some of the staples include chocolate, 100% vanilla from Madagascar and salted caramel. Other rotating or seasonal flavors include whiskey and pecan, organic cantaloupe sorbet, goat cheese and pecan, almond custard and tiramisu. They've created over 300 flavors together in the span of the business.
So what's next for the shop? Lately, Silvestrini has been thinking a lot about that. With two locations in Austin, one in Houston—he's just not sure if expanding more is the right move. Maintaining a quality product and good service is of utmost importance that he's not willing to sacrifice.
"In order to be happy, it's not about making money, it's about being an integral part of the community," Silvestrini said. "There have been so many cases in which I think what I did today really made a difference in somebody's life."
