W Austin Hotel and Residences is a 37-story hotel and residential skyscraper in the

Block 21 Block 21 is a $300 million mixed-use development complex located in the Second Street District of Downtown Austin, Texas. Austin's eighth-tallest building, the W Austin Hotel and Residences and Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater, th ...

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to ...

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, adjacent to the Second Street district. It opened in December 2010. Standing at 478 feet above the ground and 37 stories, it is the sixth tallest building in Austin. It is a residential building that sits behind the Austin City Hall. It holds 251 hotel units, managed by

W Hotels W Hotels is an American upscale lifestyle hotel chain owned by Marriott International that is marketed towards a younger age group. History W Hotels was launched in 1998 with W New York, a conversion of the former Doral Inn hotel on Lexingt ...

and 159 condominiums.

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

's investment company Canyon Johnson Urban Fund II is the primary investor and he also attended the opening ceremony. The hotel's neighbor in Block 21 is ACL Live at The Moody Theater, where

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...

is recorded.

June 2011 incident

In 2011, three incidents involving glass falling from the

balconies A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

of the hotel forced the building to close its doors. The first occurred on June 11 when two glass panels from the 24th and 25th floors fell into the

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

area, injuring four people. The second happened 16 days later on June 27, when three more panels fell onto 3rd and Lavaca Streets. Following the incident, a thousand glass panels would be replaced. The third and latest glass panel incident occurred on June 29.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:W Austin Hotel and Residences Hotel buildings completed in 2010 Residential buildings completed in 2010 Residential skyscrapers in Austin, Texas Skyscraper hotels in Austin, Texas Austin Hotel 2010 establishments in Texas

June 2011 incident

See also

References