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New Rainey Street Apartment Tower Proposed: The Austin Skyhouse

January 10, 2012 By 17 Comments
downtown Austin Skyhouse site

According to an administrative site plan application filed with the city, the Austin Skyhouse is a proposed downtown Austin mixed-use apartment tower at 47 Rainey Street.  If built, the tower could deliver 15,000ft of retail and 320 apartments to downtown Austin’s red hot rental market.

The ~1.4 acre site, shown below, is directly north of the Legacy apartments (187 units), and across the street from the Milago Condos (240 units).  The CBD zoned property has long been expected to be developed into a tower, so this shouldn’t be received with much surprise.

According to the application: “The applicant is proposing to construct Apt. Tower/Retail and Garage/Retail with associated improvements.”  The applicant is familiar to downtown Austin development – Novare/Andrews Urban – the same team who developed the successful 360 Condos.

Since Milago has the dominant lake and city view for the first twelve floors, we’ll hopefully see a tall tower over podium design where most of the units’ views would clear Milago’s roof.  Given the parking challenges in the Rainey Street district, perhaps we’ll see extra parking included in the design which could be available to visitors to the neighborhood.

This is the latest of several proposed downtown Austin high rise projects catering to renters.  Riverside Resources is under construction of their 20 story building at 3rd Street & San Jacinto.  7 Rio looks like it is being repurposed as a rental product and could break ground this year.

(UPDATE 1: Novare is building the Skyhouse concept in Atlanta on what looks to be a similarly configured site.  UPDATE 2: we’ve confirmed the tower will be 23 stories and could break ground as early as May.)

[Read more...]

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin condos, development, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, high rises, Rainey Street District

DAB EXCLUSIVE: Sales Data From The Austonian, W Hotel Residences, Four Seasons, Spring Condos

October 24, 2011 By 4 Comments
downtown austin condo report

[Personal update why we've not published data for a while. A couple of months ago, I began work on obtaining sales data from the newly constructed buildings. Not a quick and easy task.  However, after several conversations and a leap of faith by everyone involved in assembling the data (thanks!), we've got some REALLY interesting data to share. --Jude]

Back in 2010, when downtown Austin’s luxury condos started closing, the actual sales prices were closely guarded (not entered into the MLS).  I’ve been publishing monthly sales of Downtown Austin condos for years, and began tracking sales of new construction condos by laboriously tracking new deed records. That data was [at least] an accurate count of how many new constructions units had closed, and what floor plans were selling best.  That was real data my clients could rely upon, but actual closing prices were simply not available.

As a result, I have only been able to consistently highlight resale pricing.  With all of my talk about the average sale price for downtown is solidly planted at $300 per foot, I would always qualify it as incomplete without closing price data for new condos.

My goal has always been to combine the resale numbers and the new construction numbers into a single statistic.  The closely guarded luxury condo sales data has kept me from doing that.

Until now…  [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, austin lofts, DAB Stats, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments

Lease Restrictions: A Noble Idea That Can Backfire On Owners

October 14, 2011 By 4 Comments
Lease Restrictions

Lease restrictions are typically birthed with noble intent – to foster owner-occupancy and ensure that buyers can get loans for properties within the community.

When new lease restrictions are forcibly applied to limit rental activity in buildings and neighborhoods, it is a taking of property rights which can set off litigation from disgruntled owners.

This issue has impacted me as a property owner, and I’m familiar with the emotions and frustrations felt by advocates and antagonists to lease restrictions.  A recent situation with a buyer was frustrating enough that I want to share my experience (which is not unique) about how lease restrictions can adversely impact current owners, sellers, and buyers.

Lease restrictions will do two things, guaranteed:

1) limit the number of renters in a community
2) limit the number of buyers for properties within a community

[Read more...]

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin condos, austin neighborhoods, downtown austin

Crossing The Chasm: A Perspective On New Construction

September 13, 2011 By 11 Comments
Crossing-The-Chasm-Adoption-Lifecycle

Because I’m a real estate geek, I’m continuously looking at sales metrics, updating my databases, and endeavoring to uncover useful information.  In this post, I’m attempting two things: 1) offer some perspective on sales in downtown Austin’s high profile buildings, and 2) predict when those buildings will approach being completely sold.  If you just want the data then skip to the end.

One of my mentors shared with me an insight: the first buyers are innovators - early adopters that fill up the bandwagon and help throttle the acceptance of something new.  It applies to new real estate development, as much as it does to new technologies.

Now that the cranes are long gone, where are the new construction projects in their sales cycles? [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin

New Renderings Of Park Plaza Tower

July 16, 2011 By 17 Comments
park plaza austin ziegler cooper plat

Architect Ziegler Cooper has posted new renderings of Gables Park Plaza’s nascent mixed-use neighbor. Site plan approval from the city has been extended through February of 2012.

Near the intersection of Cesar Chavez and Lamar, back in the day this site was home to Cedar Door (910 Cesar Chavez) which was moved to Brazos @ 2nd.

I like the design. It successfully handles a few site specific challenges, notably a Capitol View Corridor and train track. Thanks to downtown resident Mitchell McGovern for the heads up! Pics after the jump…

[Read more...]

Filed Under: austin apartments, austin condos, downtown austin, Downtown Austin Districts, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Real Estate, Seaholm District

Downtown Austin Condo Sales Remain Strong In May

June 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
downtown austin condo closings may

For the first time since the bubble burst, the average price per square foot of a downtown Austin condo has increased four months in a row. Last month, downtown Austin closed 62 condos* with 29 more pending!

Highlights

In May, we counted 41 closings of new-construction condos from the Four Seasons Residences, W Hotel, Austonian, Spring Condos, and Barton Place.  The W takes the cake with 15 closings in May.

On the other hand, the number of resales comes in at 21 units closed – a strong showing – averaging a price of $334 per square foot. We also count 29 resales pending as of May 31st!  So, we can expect next month’s closing count to be similarly strong.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments

Downtown Austin Condo Transaction Report For April (And March, Sort Of)

May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
march data

In April, I didn’t publish a transaction summary covering March’s downtown deals.

I had assembled all the info, drafted the post, and it was ready to publish.  Some of you noticed that I never got around to posting it, and I’m sorry for not getting it out there (here’s to you John K.).

Jude, why u no post March data?

First and fortunately, I was at the tipping point of having more business than I could handle.  Springtime is always busy for me.  Combine that with opening the RE/MAX Downtown Austin office and I got distracted, operating on little sleep.

Secondly, I couldn’t come up with a headline for March!  March’s data didn’t seem to have a compelling story.  March’s data seemed too predictable.  That spooked me – what was I going to write about?  DAB readers have built up filters to exaggerated headlines, but readers do expect a story.  You should expect some insight.  What’s the story?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, austin lofts, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments

Seaholm Website Updated With New Renderings

March 31, 2011 By 3 Comments
seaholm aerial feb 2011

The latest aerial perspective rendering of Downtown Austin’s Seaholm redevelopment hints at a 27 story building.  Admittedly, this has been off my radar for a little while. The project design has gone through multiple iterations but is still expected to host residential condos for sale in addition to a hotel and retail.  I’m pretty enamored with the latest design.  It shows a variety of uses, building heights, and a great park-like lawn.   [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Seaholm District Tagged With:

Live (Work, or Play) in Downtown Austin? Join DANA (Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association)

March 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
41787_58718931796_5749011_n

Jude and I are both on the board of the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) – a grassroots community organization dedicated to improving the lives of those who live, work, and / or play in the Downtown Austin Community. It’s an organization that we believe in, and an organization that is affecting positive change in our community.

For our readers who are downtown residents (or, who spend a significant amount of time downtown for work or for pleasure), I urge you to become a member of the organization.

A little info: [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, austin lifestyle, austin neighborhoods, austin news, austin parks, austin recreation, austin small business, development, downtown austin, Downtown Austin Districts, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, high rises, life, life in austin, miscellaneous, small business, urban family, urban planning

Downtown Austin Condo Prices On The Rise in December

January 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
downtown austin condo stats december 2010

1) Price Per Foot, and 2) Number of Transactions (monthly, Jan-Dec 2010)

The downtown Austin loft & condo market hit many milestones this year: 1) Austonian opened 2) Four Seasons opened 3) W Hotel residences approached completion.  Downtown hosted over $60MM in resale transactions during the year.  Moreover, to the surprise or chagrin of some, buyers are flocking to the top-tier buildings.  We close out 2010 with 38 closed transactions in the month of December – 18 resale, and 20 direct to developer.

The above chart shows downtown austin condo resale trends based on monthly data from 2010.  Direct to developer transactions are not shown on the chart.  The most salient trend we can glean from this data is the average sales price hovering steadily ~$300 per square foot.

Details after the jump… [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments
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