Our top five stories of 2022

From rooftop bars to an architectural behind the scenes, here are the stories our readers loved most this year.

The Austin skyline, as seen at nighttime

The Austin skyline has seen some changes in 2022 — and even more are yet to come.

Time flies when you’re having fun, Austin, and boy did we have fun in 2022. This year, we sent 230+ newsletters with the goal of keeping our community informed, activated, and engaged.

We wanted to look back on the top ATXtoday stories from 2022 and give a huge thank you to our readers and members of the community that made this year so spectacular.

1️⃣ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to be transformed into a “Field of Light” | May 12

Our readers were captivated by this 16-acre art installation, which contains 28,000 glowing orbs. Our reel showcasing the exhibit on opening night was also one of our most-liked for the year.

2️⃣ Facebook’s parent company Meta signs historic lease in Austin | January 9

A lot has changed since Meta announced it would lease all of Sixth and Guadalupe’s commercial space. The company now plans to sublease its space in the 873-ft tower, which was set to be the tallest in the city — a title that has been reclaimed not once, but twice this year.

3️⃣ Nine must-visit rooftop bars in Austin | May 16

Our round-up — and our accompanying interactive map — of Austin’s best rooftops soared high, with Zanzibar and P6 earning the most clicks.

A rendering of Sixth and Guadalupe.

Sixth and Guadalupe played a starring role in two of our top five stories for the year.

Rendering courtesy Gensler

4️⃣ Nine concerts to see this summer in Austin | May 10

What can we say, Austinites love a show. Check out our most recent roundup of winter events, which includes upcoming festivals.

5️⃣ Behind the design for Sixth and Guadalupe | January 18

We spoke with George Blume, lead architect for the massive Sixth and Guadalupe tower (which topped out in November), about how to go about building a ~600,000 sqft skyscraper in the middle of downtown Austin, all while dodging capitol view corridors, historic sites, and height restrictions.

And that’s a wrap on 2022. Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year, Austin!

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