Developers Break Ground On So-Called 'Jenga Tower'

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN-UT, TX -- Developers broke ground Monday on a residential skyscraper that will soon transform the downtown skyline, as much for its impressive height as its unique design.

People are calling it the “Jenga tower” because it will look somewhat like something that might’ve been built as part of the popular stacked blocks game.

Except it’ll be a Jenga tower on steroids; at 58 stories rising 685 feet in height, it will be the tallest residential tower west of the Mississippi.

Officially named “The Independent,” the tower will house 370 condos intended for the wealthy set, priced between $400,000 and $3.4 million apiece. The units’ dimensions will vary from 675 square feet to 3,485 square feet for the swankiest ones.

The tower will offer panoramic views along with a variety of amenities including a theater, club room, business center, dog owners’ lounge and a pool overlooking the city.

In remarks to reporters during the groundbreaking ceremony recorded by KVUE-TV, an official whose company will participate in the construction said the $300 million building will help the city bolster its property tax base with economic ripple effects into surrounding neighborhoods

“ ‘All this focus on downtown, all this money being spent downtown, what good does it do us in the suburbs?’ “ Perry Lorenz of Constructive Ventures Inc. asked, repeating a nonchalant view some may have on a building--however visually spectacular it may be--constructed outside their neighborhoods.

“The answer is, it pays for your roads, it pays for your infrastructure,” he said, alluding to the substantial property taxes the city would derive from the property that would also benefit outlying communities.

Despite the considerable indirect benefits to outlying communities, Lorenz said the construction group also has pledged $2.5 million to the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

According to a report by KVUE-TV, the consortium bought the lot encompassing the tower’s footprint from the city for $14.5 million. The 950,000-square-foot in the northwest corner of 3rd Street and West Avenue is being built by Constructive Ventures Inc. and Aspen Heights.

The structure is expected to be completed in three years.