Austin Business Journal May 17th 2022 COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE| “Stream Realty pitches vision for bigger, safer Sixth Street” by Paul Thompson
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Image from 6street.com
What is known as “Dirty Sixth Street” in Austin has over the last decade gone from nightlife partying college students to street shootings in October 2021. Now a big Dallas commercial real estate firm, Stream Realty Partners LP, with significant holdings on Sixth between I-35 on the East to Congress is starting to promote a safer and more commercially viable remake.
At least two other stakeholders are supportive namely Gary Manley (Iron Cactus Restaurants) and Bob Woody (Shakespeare’s and Blind Pig Pub). Business owners need assurances that the proposed changes, once started, are completed in a timely way.
Stream is calling for raising the height limits from 45 feet to 122 feet to accommodate office buildings and 70 feet to facilitate the building of a hotel. These changes are considered essential for the financial feasibility of the project. Other requests are to “widen the sidewalks and reopen the street to cars on weekend nights.”
Still most recognize and Bob Woody commented that “the biggest problem for Sixth Street is Seventh Street…in fact, that’s the only problem.” Anyone having been on Seventh Street, in that area, is aware that the “Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, or ARCH, will continue to cause problems no matter how much Stream invests.” Most would agree that ARCH, at 500 East Seventh Street, provides “critical services to hundreds of people experiencing homelessness…but some see it as a safety hazard.” ARCH’s presence has inhibited development, in the past, on that part of East Seventh Street.”
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