Republic Square will be the temporary home to POP!, an immersive art installation allowing interaction with light, music, motion and pop culture that’s relocating to Austin during South by Southwest. Austin is the sixth city in the world and third in the U.S. to feature the award-winning installation that was created by Montreal-based entertainment studio Gentilhomme and brought to town by the Downtown Austin Alliance. It’s part of the Writing on the Walls program by the DAA and will be included in the 2024 Art & Parks Tour. “As part of its journey across major cities, this free exhibit is designed to spark joy, encourage collaboration and challenge visitors to reimagine art as a dynamic, collective experience,” said Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Alliance. POP! will be accessible to the public for free March 8-22 during park hours. To learn more, visit the Downtown Austin Alliance website.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has released its stats for last month. The growth of passenger traffic at ABIA was down 1.57 percent in January 2024 compared to January 2023, with 1,483,372 total arriving and departing passengers flying during the month. Air cargo totaled 23,157,406 pounds last month, down 2.46 percent compared to the previous year. International air cargo was down 5.31 percent, totaling 1,522,625 pounds. Beyond that, Air Services transferred 182,502 pounds of mail, down 57.66 percent, and 2,656,415 pounds of belly freight, down 5.14 percent.

City Council appears ready to approve funding for the Red River Cultural District, with a larger goal of establishing guidelines for funding future cultural districts around the city. Council Member Zo Qadri has put forward a resolution for Thursday’s meeting that directs the city manager to find funding options in the current budget to help the district fund and promote events at the many live music venues in the area. In January, the Music Commission voted to recommend that Council give money to the RRCD, likely at a level between $150,000 and $300,000, to keep in line with what’s currently provided to two other cultural districts. The resolution seeks the funding framework before July and directs staff to include funding allocations for cultural districts into subsequent city budgets.

The city’s Development Services Department has proposed a change to the building criteria manual for the city of Austin in order to clarify when building plan review applications expire. The new rule would mean that applications would expire one year after filing if no permit had been issued. In addition, the deadline to update applications would be 181 days if building plans are approved before they expire. Feedback on the proposed changes can be submitted here until March 11. According to a FAQ about the proposal, the changes would not impact most of the permits, only customers that do not begin work on activating their permits following building plan approval.

PNC Bank plans to invest $10 million in the Austin Housing Conservancy Fund, which is managed by Affordable Central Texas to secure workforce housing throughout the Austin area. The investment, which brings ACT’s total fund to more than $41 million, will help to move forward with the purchase of multifamily properties where rents will be maintained at levels affordable for moderate- and middle-income households. The group has a goal of securing $50 million for property acquisition by the end of this year. In a statement announcing the investment, PNC Regional President Steven Gonzalez said, “This investment will help create meaningful change by offering a path forward to help middle-income families, especially those who work in essential services, remain in Austin despite steep increases in cost of living.”

The Austin Convention Center Department has scheduled a pair of information sessions for those interested in learning more about the coming solicitation for developers interested in the hotel and residential projects proposed for reconstruction of the convention center. A group presentation via Microsoft Teams will take place March 1, offering project background and a limited question-and-answer period. Those who register online for the group meeting will then have the option to schedule a 45-minute one-on-one meeting with ACCD staff and consultants already connected to the project. The hotel and residential developments are expected to take place largely in concert with the four-year teardown and $1.2 billion reconstruction of the convention center, which is slated to begin in 2026.

A new nonprofit advanced manufacturing center is slated to open in East Austin near State Highway 130, with a 50,000-square-foot facility sitting on 7 acres. The Hayes Innovation Center for Advanced Manufacturing will open in the former Clean Energy Tech Center on Quinn Luke Trail. The $20 million effort is backed by the SH 130 Municipal Management District, which was created by state lawmakers in 2015. The site will operate as an accelerator to support regional manufacturing entrepreneurs. The center’s founders hope that as startups from the accelerator grow, they can move into some of the available industrial space located nearby along the SH 130 corridor. A tour for members of the area tech community is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. March 21.

A quiet battle is going on behind the scenes between NXSTEP Opportunity Partners and Austin real estate company Stratus Properties Inc. NXSTEP, a real estate-focused private equity fund, offered to buy all of Stratus Properties’ shares for $27.18 per share in cash. The initial offer was made on Jan. 24, 2024. The board of Stratus unanimously rejected that offer, according to their statement to the press.

Stratus announced this week that it had received a second offer from NXSTEP and that a major Stratus stockholder, Oasis Management Company Ltd., had reported that it had entered into an agreement with NXSTEP supportive of its proposal. Subsequently, Stratus received an updated nonbinding proposal from NXSTEP to pay approximately $27.30 per share in cash. In its press release, Stratus said, “Stratus’ Board plans to consider these matters consistent with its fiduciary duties and respond to NXSTEP in due course. Stratus does not intend to comment on or disclose further developments regarding the proposal unless and until it deems further disclosure is appropriate or required.”

Stratus is a familiar name to longtime Austinites because of the fight between its predecessor company, FMP, and environmentalists over what development should be allowed over the Barton Springs Zone of the Edwards Aquifer and subsequent passage of the Save Our Springs Ordinance. However, in 2020, the Save Our Springs Alliance said it had reached an agreement with Stratus “that will help protect approximately 10 acres of land from commercial development and will reduce the total amount of impervious cover (i.e., pavement) that can be built in the immediate area surrounding the new apartment complex by 6.9 acres.”

SOS noted, “The development in question is the last phase of a five-phase development at the southwest corner of William Cannon and Southwest Parkway (7415 Southwest Parkway) in the area known as Lantana. In exchange for being able to convert their approved office project to multi-family housing, Stratus has agreed to reduce the overall imperious cover of their planned project to 25% net site area (from 60% NSA), by dedicating additional developable lands towards land conservation immediately to the project’s south. This would be functionally equivalent to the limits required under the SOS Ordinance.”

Shares in Stratus Properties saw a 52-week high of $29.99 and a low of $18.54. The price on Jan. 3 was $28.03, but the price on Thursday afternoon was $22.33.

We may have had a few good rains in Austin recently, but the drought is still on in Central Texas. On Wednesday, the Lower Colorado River Authority announced a limit on outdoor watering, asking cities, businesses, industries and other LCRA customers to limit watering to once per week. According to a statement to the press about the change, “Cities and utilities are required to enact the once-a-week restriction for their end use customers by May 1. This includes Austin, Briarcliff, Burnet, Cedar Park, Cottonwood Shores, Dripping Springs, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Lago Vista, Leander, Marble Falls, Pflugerville, Sunrise Beach Village, the West Travis County Public Utility Agency and multiple Travis County municipal utility districts and water control and improvement districts.” The city of Austin already has a once-per-week watering limit in place. “Our reservoirs are stressed, and we need to do everything we can to preserve our supplies through this drought,” John Hofmann, LCRA executive vice president of water, said in a statement to the press. “We can’t make it rain, we can’t increase the amount of water flowing into the lakes and we can’t stop evaporation, which takes more water from the Highland Lakes every year than any single customer. What we can do is limit how much water we use, and that is what we’re doing here.” The watering restrictions are triggered when the combined storage drops below 45 percent in lakes Buchanan and Travis. On Wednesday, the combined storage was 42 percent. The watering restrictions were unanimously adopted by the LCRA board at its monthly meeting. Firm water customers that do not adopt the new regulations can face fines of up to $10,000 per day from the water authority.

If you have a project that’s subject to lakeside environmental requirements, the Development Services Department’s environmental inspections division has a brown-bag lunch-and-learn for that. Offering information on the unique regulations for construction on, under or next to the water in Lake Austin, Lady Bird Lake and Lake Walter E. Long, the event is set for 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. March 7 at the Permitting and Development Center, 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Drive. Environmental compliance supervisor Amanda Wyrick will cover specifics for boat docks, stationary platforms, piers, shoreline access and more, focusing mainly on information that affects permit holders, but the event is open to all interested Austin residents. Wyrick’s presentation will be interactive with time for questions. Outside food and drinks are welcome, and light snacks will be provided. Register to attend here. For more details, contact DSDCommunications@austintexas.gov.

We Are Blood, Central Texas’ nonprofit blood center, is giving away custom T-shirts to those donating (or attempting to donate) blood during the first half of next month. All We Are Blood locations are participating, but the stock of T-shirts is limited, so people are encouraged to make an appointment today by visiting their website or calling 512-206-1266. The T-shirt fest will run from March 1-14. Locations and hours can be found on the We Are Blood website.

Early voting for the March 5 primary election is underway and will continue through Friday, March 1. Travis County voters can vote at any location (listed here) in the county, with polls open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday through Feb. 28 and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. From Thursday, Feb. 29, until Friday, March 1, some locations will stay open until 10 p.m. Our pals over at KUT have helpfully detailed the races on the ballot. That information can be found here.