austin apartments

amber gugino | May 5, 2013 | Leave a Comment

9th Annual Downtown Living Tour – May 19th, 2013 – Reserve Your Tickets

The 9th Annual Downtown Living Tour is a couple of weeks away. Produced by the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA), the tour is a great way to tour downtown living, at your own pace, all in one day!

Get your DLT tickets now

This year, although the tour will still be self-guided, the tour will also have shuttle service to facilitate access to each tour stop (nice!), and will showcase the following buildings:

The Whitley Apartments
The Shore Condos
Park West Residences
360 Condos
Avenue Lofts (one of the few Art Deco buildings downtown)
The Four Seasons Residences -RECEPTION – (VIP only, and only open from 4pm-5pm)
Brazos Lofts (check out the history, formerly Capital Chevrolet)
Towers of Town Lake (Penthouse, VIP only, only open from 1-4pm)
Capital Studios (to-be-built Foundations Communities project designed by Dick Clark Architecture)
LBJ’s apartment at JJ Pickle Building (VIP only, only open from 1-4pm)
More stops to be announced!

There are some stops of particular note, primarily the official office suite of President Lyndon Baines Johnson at the JJ Pickle Building, an office suite he used during his presidency and the site of such landmark meetings as the Cold War discussions on December 6, 1966, which culminated in the first agreement with the Soviet Union to limit nuclear weapons, known as the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).

The JJ Pickle building itself is part of a two-block complex of Federal Buildings in downtown Austin, and was designed by Texas Firms Page-Southerland-Page and Brooks & Barr, and is textbook 1960s high-rise design.

Here are a few exclusive pictures of the interior of the office suite, which is remarkably intact.

The LBJ Suite is only open to VIP ticket holders, and there a very limited amount of VIP tickets – so we would recommend…

Get your DLT tickets now

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin condos, austin history, austin lifestyle, austin towers, austin towers and high rises, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, high rises, life in austin, office, Real Estate

Jude Galligan | March 14, 2013 | 8 Comments

UT student housing, not condos, coming to 17 & Guadalupe

About a month ago, the Downtown Austin Blog had a post hinting at the redevelopment of the abandoned, sad-looking Arby’s at 17th and Guadalupe, received with some skepticism.

Guess what? It’s going to be developed into an 80-unit student housing apartment complex and they want to do it fast.

About a quarter of the block at 1715 Guadalupe has been an abandoned fast food restaurant with its onsite parking use for contract parking. Recently, it has been sold to a developer for mid-rise student housing, with below grade parking.

Here’s the catch: The construction schedule requires work to begin by March 15, in order for the project to be ready for UT student move-in this August. The entire project area will have underground parking, which will required about two months of demolition, excavation and grading work.

It will be interesting to see if this still becomes student housing if the project deadlines cannot be met. Initially, this lot was going to be redeveloped into downtown mixed-use and someone literally scratched out “condos and retail” on the site plan application and wrote “apartments”.

UT had record freshman enrollment this past year, and if the market said lending was easier for that use, then that’s how the chips fall.

There’s likely to be universal consensus that a mid-rise student complex will be great for adding some life back into that part of town, and be especially good for the adjacent Dive Bar and Arturo’s coffee shop.

But, like cutting into an overcooked, yet still tasty steak, the current plan leaves bit sadness about what could have been.

Street-level retail and condo owners, which would have been vested in the community, would have been much juicier than student housing. Not to mention: the site is zoned for DMU-CURE and not in the Capitol View Corridor, which means density could have been packed in there.

We’ll also not that unlike other apartment projects percolating around the core, this one – because it is student housing – is unlikely to be converted into condos at a later date.

On the other hand, having student housing bleeding into downtown does it’s own unique part to keep the core vibrant, and really adds a level of affordability and youthfulness to downtown, which a luxury high-rise condo tower would not.

Filed Under: austin apartments, Real Estate

Jude Galligan | February 19, 2013 | 9 Comments

More Downtown Austin Apartment & Condo Projects Emerging

It seems like almost every direction we look around downtown Austin, construction cranes are deployed, helping concrete and steel skeletons reach to the sky. Notably the JW Marriott hotel, across from the Austonian, has three cranes in place and will soon take shape. But that’s just the newly visible construction: in and around downtown Austin there’s upwards of 8 million square feet of construction planned or underway.

Sometimes we forget to look outside of the downtown core. Still, there on the far wings of downtown Austin, even more construction is (literally) on the horizon and DAB is here to give you a first look.

North Shore Lofts
More Rainey Street District development is on the way, joining the Sutton Towers, Austin Skyhouse and the (perpetually-stalled) Hotel Van Zandt. Not much is known at this point, but a new multifamily development is planned on a vacant plot of land on the north shore, next to the Holiday Inn right by I-35.

If built, the views of Lady Bird Lake would be incredible (and protected).

This site, addressed 16 North I-35, was rezoned from downtown mixed-use (DMU) to central business district (CBD) in 2005, and at the time was owned by Tom Calhoon, of Calhoon Properties.

Coming Soon: “North Shore Lofts”

West Campus Apartments
Don’t be fooled by the name, this project, at 17th and Guadalupe is not actually in “West Campus“, and is also planned to have condos. Since as long as I can remember, this area near the Dog and Duck Pub, is one of the most run-down areas remaining in downtown, with a lot of properties sitting idly in disrepair.

Last time this site was anything productive it was an Arby’s.

Hopefully, this project will spur additional redevelopment of the low-density legacy buildings all around here. A few blocks north, the UT School of Business is building a new center next to the Player’s Club, which will also expand the AT&T Conference center, which might help energize the area, too.

-Jude

Coming Soon: “West Campus Apartments”

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin condos, development, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Rainey Street District, Real Estate

amber gugino | February 11, 2013 | 1 Comment

FLOR coming to Downtown Austin’s 2nd Street District March 7, 2013.

Looks like FLOR will be opening in downtown Austin’s 2nd Street District (209 W 2nd to be exact, where Mercury Design Studio was – they’ve now moved 2 doors down).

They’ll be opening a day before SXSW 2013 starts, just in time for the crazy crowds. We suspect they’ll do well in the area with DWR and Mercury Design Studio nearby – as well as several high-end downtown austin condos and apartment buildings, and look forward to doing a little shopping there ourselves.

Filed Under: 2nd Street District, around town, austin apartments, austin condos, austin lifestyle, austin lofts, austin neighborhoods, austin retail, downtown austin, miscellaneous, retail

Jude Galligan | December 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

Marathon Planning Effort Pays Off: 7 Rio Site Plan Permitted, Awaiting Construction

An Englishman once said: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you just might find you get what you need.”

And so it was for the folks behind a tower planned at Seventh & Rio Grande, named 7 Rio, who this month saw the City of Austin approve a site plan, allowing construction to move forward.

It was exactly one year ago that DAB posted that the 7 Rio apartments still had legs.

The project was one of a handful of [for sale] condo projects that took a back seat when lenders got squeamish in the midst of the Great Recession. In 2008, on the eve of the housing-crisis fallout, the builders projected a 3Q08 groundbreaking on a 34-story luxury residential 158-unit “point-tower” building.

That vision has been scaled back, and what is coming is a shorter building, with 24-stories, but packing in about 70 more apartments [for rent].

original rendering of 7rio has since been scaled back

Part of the site is in the Capitol View Corridor, but a point-tower over podium design could have gone up as high as 50 stories. Given that demand remains so high for units in the urban core, this feels like a bit of a missed opportunity for CWS Capital Partners – the Orange County, California based developer – to create something striking, and the Austin community to reap some additional property tax and density.

One other observations is that the current site plan application says only “residential & parking,” while the initial proposal included 7,300 square feet of retail space.

Site vs. CVC

I’m just hoping CWS doesn’t sacrifice developing an inviting, pedestrian/shopper friendly building, for something barren of storefronts.

It is nice to see a project developed by a great local architect Brett Rhode getting off the ground, and we’ll all accept that the client calls the shots. (Note: Rhode: Partners portfolio still shows specs for the first design.)

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin towers and high rises, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, high rises, Real Estate

Jude Galligan | December 18, 2012 | 5 Comments

What’s Missing? Clues To Downtown Austin’s Next Apartment Tower

What’s missing is a clue to what might become downtown Austin’s next apartment high-rise.

Back in August we discovered the old warehouse on the corner of Trinity and Cesar Chavez had been acquired by World Class Capital Group, and quickly conceptualized into an apartment tower, with the working name of Trinity Place.

For decades, two small billboards stood at the eastern edge of the lot. If you were heading east or west on Cesar Chavez you wouldn’t have missed them. As of this week, those billboards have been taken down!

Now, WCCG would not decide to forfeit that steady billboard lease without a good reason. I speculate this is a signal that development efforts are progressing.

Trinity Place conceptual footprint – Cesar Chavez @ Trinty (pdf)

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin towers and high rises, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Railyard District, Real Estate

Jude Galligan | September 24, 2012 | 7 Comments

Whitley: Downtown Luxury Apartments

Developers of the Whitley have launched their marketing website for the forthcoming 16-story, 266 unit downtown Austin apartment high rise. AustinTowers broke the news in July that the apartment building, currently under construction in the Railyard District, would be branded as “Whitley” – a hat tip to the Whitley Paper company that used to occupy the site.

On the new website, we learn the 6th floor will host a mezzanine level pool deck. The website also reveals certain amenities that suggest the building is targeting luxury apartment renters, by including a “Dog Park with Artificial Grass and Dog Washing Machine”, “Guest Suites Available”, and “Oversized Private Garages Available”. Make sure the checkout the construction timelapse video.

The Whitley’s site plan includes 10,000ft of retail space at the ground level. CBRE is handling the commercial leasing with retail space being quoted at $36ft NNN.

Completion should be Q2 2013.

The address of the Whitley is officially:
301 Brazos Street (Brazos @ 3rd)
Austin, TX 78701

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin towers and high rises, development, Downtown Austin Districts, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Railyard District, Real Estate

Jude Galligan | August 9, 2012 | 3 Comments

New Apartment Tower At 97 Trinity?

Based on conceptual plans filed with the City of Austin, national real estate developer Wood Partners could be entering the downtown Austin apartment market with a tower at the southeast corner of Trinity @ Cesar Chavez. Recently, it was announced that the one-acre site was sold from Hixon Properties to World Class Capital Group.

The plans refer to the project as “Trinity Place.”

Even with the Lakeside apartments to the south, a 6-9 story structured parking garage would allow clear lake views for most of a residential tower. Lakeside is an aging structure, so perhaps this is an opportunity for the City to partner with a developer to provide a modernized affordable housing component. Also, I think the Convention Center could be interested this site for future expansion. Either way, it’s exciting to see something happening on this site.

Trinity Place conceptual footprint – Cesar Chavez @ Trinty (pdf)

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin towers and high rises, development, downtown austin, lady bird lake, Railyard District

amber gugino | June 22, 2012 | 1 Comment

Rocket Electrics Electric Bike Rental Discount Code – Exclusive for Downtown Austin Blog Readers

I love a good deal. And more than that, I love SHARING a good deal.

Luckily for me, Rocket Electrics over on E. Riverside (just south of Downtown Austin, on the ground floor of the AMLI South Shore Apartments) is offering you lucky Downtown Austin Blog readers a fabulous discount on their Electric Bike rentals. The discount starts TODAY, and is good for a WHOPPING [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin lifestyle, austin recreation, austin transit

Jude Galligan | March 29, 2012 | 4 Comments

Virtual Flyover Of The 3rd & Brazos Apartment High Rise

Not much info has been released about the design of Riverside Resources’ 20 16-story apartment building under construction at 3rd & Brazos (in the newly monikered Railyard District).

The video below is a virtual flyover of the building, and provides more insight into the design. (update: the video settings have been changed to private)