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Tom Meredith on Waller Creek
Where others see puddles of slime, patches of asphalt pocked with industrial residue, and broken, errant stones from forgotten civic projects, Tom Meredith envisions open spaces landscaped with indigenous plants, artfully placed towers for residents and visitors, renovated historic structures, a thriving entertainment district and the vital intersection of health, eduction and state government along the banks of lower Waller Creek.
Nine semi-finalists will be announced on Jan. 30, culled from 31 top design firms from around the world. The design competition and determination of construction costs should cost $1.5 million, Meredith says, by the time it is completed in October.
Based on preliminary estimates, Meredith guesses it will cost $60 million to $75 million to execute the eventual creekside plan, that on top of the $146.5 million the city and county are spending on the flood-averting tunnel that makes it all possible.
I recently walked part of Waller Creek with Tom Meredith and his wife Lynn Meredith (pictured). We picked our way around various obstacles, pointing out wildlife and trying to imagine what might come next. The former Dell Inc. executive and his equally engaged partner devote themselves to countless worthy causes. Lynn Meredith, for example, is a major force behind plans to build the next Austin Children’s Museum at the Mueller Development.
Clearly, the Conservancy represents something crucial for the couple, perhaps because it affects almost everything that is definitional about downtown Austin.
“I have always been attracted to the great outdoors,” Tom Meredith says. “I quickly realized Waller Creek could be a catalyst for downtown renewal, especially considering that the tunnel will remove (about) 28 acres from the floodplain; was in a state of atrophy and we need to restore and protect it; represents a mechanism that can re-connect east and west and north and south Austin; and could be a magnet that draws people from far and wide.”
Inspired by efforts in other cities, such as those that rescued Central Park and created the hugely popular High Line Park in New York City, Meredith is not the type to stand by idly.
“Being a bystander just did not seem very appealing,” he says. “Waller Creek is a lot safer than I had imagined. I now walk it fairly regularly. While it evidences aspects of a tough life for some in our community, it is poignant and profound and beautiful in part.”
The loyal Out & About reader might have already guessed that I’ve explored Waller Creek pretty much from its headwaters above 45st Street to the Colorado River, where a sandy triangle of sediment has formed an island since my first strolls there in the early 1980s. I had always wondered why 1970s-era stonework along the lower creek — decorative bridges, walkways, embankments — seemed partially wrecked and abandoned by the public.
“They were built with the understanding that a 100-year floodplain meant that the next flood would come in 100 years,” Tom Meredith says. “It came in 1981.”
A few weeks after our chatty walk, a group of 50 or so sat around dinner tables at the Meredith penthouse atop the Four Seasons Residences. They met the jurors tasked with narrowing the field of design firms to nine. Besides the Merediths, Ted and Melba Whatley and Melanie and Ben Barnes, present were Teresa and Joe Long, Julie Blakeslee and John Spong, Mickey and Jeanne Klein, Sue Edwards and David Bodenman, Rudy Green and Joyce Christian, Suzanne Booth, Eddie Safady, Ted Siff, Chris Mattsson and Charlie Betts.
Tom Meredith introduced Donald Stastny, founder and CEO of StastnyBrun Architects, Inc., who is heading up the competition. “It’s rare that you have a chance to change the face of a city forever,” Stastny said. “If we are successful, this will be the heart of the city.”
Juror and real estate expert John H Alschuler, Jr. knows how to use open space to incentivize development. “You have a diamond encrusted in coal,” Alschuler said. Of the design firms that applied: “You have attracted the best talent in the world”
“This is a momentous occasion,” said juror Carlos Jimenez, who is particularly interested in culture and the memory of a place. On Waller Creek: “It has been buried and cauterized by the violence of develpment.”
At our table, juror Marsha Maytum talked about adaptive use and universval design that might attract all Austin residents and out-of towners: “This has been like an archeological dig,” she said about the process so far. “You have to be the champions of this project.”
Juror Darrel Morrison emphasized introducing the right kind of plants, while distinguished landscape architect Richard Haag said: “We are joined together in a great adventure for the health, wellness and love of Austin.”
University of Texas professor Allan W. Shearer, an alternate juror and stalwart project supporter, predicted a beautiful, elegant solution, embracing the concept: “Tell me your landscape and I’ll tell you who you are.”
Still, the most powerful moment of the evening was reserved for urban planner Jennifer Mannhard, a Portland resident who grew up off MoPac (Loop 1) in North Austin.
“Thus was a place I was not allowed to go as a kid,” she said, choking up and cutting short her planned speech. “I cant wait to see what it becomes.”
Correction: A previous version of this post had an incorrect first name for John Spong. David Bodenman and Julie Blakeslee’s last name were misspelled.
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By Casie Wenmohs
January 24, 2012 7:43 PM | Link to this
Thank you to Mike Barnes for covering this important re-development and even more thanks to the Waller Creek Conservancy! It is exciting to think about how this project will invigorate the downtown area for years to come.