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Waller Creek design up-to-bat for council approval
Jude Galligan | June 17, 2013 | 6 Comments

Waller Creek design up-to-bat for council approval

waller-creek-poppy

An inspired master plan design for Waller Creek is inching closer to reality.  It’s on the agenda for City Council this Thursday.  It is a big step in a project I am a big fan of, and will be another transformative measure to propel Austin into the next 100 years.

You may vaguely remember news from six months ago, or so, about city council approving a plan for Waller Creek.  What actually happened is City Council approved the design team, from a national competition, but not their design plan.

Here is a PDF of the design plan. (use this backup link if that doesn’t work).  If you are super interested, you can watch a presentation made to city council last week like I did. (skip to 11:00 to bypass city council doldrums.)

The plan is rather broad for council to be approving wholesale, but it appears linked to getting donors who are comfortable cutting big checks.

Highlights of the plan:

  1. Build an outdoor concert stage — called the Poppy — at Waterlook Park just south of where the new Dell Medical Hospital will be built..
  2. Connect a bunch of trails and mini-bridges over the creek, connecting the Rainey Street District into the greater downtown area.
  3. Remove/replace the Austin Police Department headquarters.
  4. Build a pontoon bridge connecting to the south shore of Lady Bird Lake, which will swing from 12 O’Clock position – connecting the shores – to a 9 O’Clock position in order to open the water for boats.

If you’ve read this far, and are like “What the heck is Waller Creek?” here is a crude cheat sheet:

  1. There is a creek in downtown Austin, on the west side of I-35 stretching from the river (lake) to UT-Austin campus, which is prone to flooding when it rains.  So the properties surrounding it represent a large economic development opportunity.
  2. The city is spending large sums of money, which no one disagrees with, to dig a huge tunnel deep underground, which will act as a drain for the floodwater, thus making it cool to redevelop the creek area.
  3. A new conservancy was formed for stewardship and to raise money for grade level improvements, and held a national competition, and a firm based in Brooklyn, NYC won.
  4. The design firm, the conservancy and the city are signing a legal agreement to more or less turn the Waller Creek District over to the conservancy, with the usual city checks and balances, etc.
  5. This project is coinciding with the new Dell Medical School and adjacent development near the Erwin Center, along with a vaguely outlined “innovation district” along the east side of the State Capitol Complex.
Filed Under: downtown austin, waller creek
Lets Hug It Out: Rainey Street Traffic
Jude Galligan | June 12, 2013 | 2 Comments

Lets Hug It Out: Rainey Street Traffic

rainey-photo

With the increasing amount of construction happening in the Rainey Street District, I think we have seen the last of the Google Villages and such taking the neighborhood over – at least for a while.

I’m going to lay out a summary of the transportation plan here first, then drop my two cents in the bucket on the drama surrounding it.

What to expect

City staff have settled on maintaining two-way traffic on the street, and adding sidewalks where there is not existing development taking place. The east side of the street will retain on-street, metered parking, while the west side (on the right side if you are facing the river) will be converted into a striped area with pedicab pick-ups and bike parking.

Once the sidewalks are built out, the city may move forward with converting that striped area into bike lanes.

The city will convert the turning circle into a “modern roundabout” – like this one at Rio Grande and 10th Street.  The city also plans to install speed humps (not speed bumps) and up the ante on the navigational signs in and around the area.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: downtown austin, Downtown Austin Districts, Rainey Street District, urban planning
By The Numbers: Downtown’s Shrinking Inventory
Jude Galligan | June 9, 2013 | 1 Comment

By The Numbers: Downtown’s Shrinking Inventory

DT Resale Chart - May TTM

The data supports what we all see – demand exceeds supply for downtown condos, especially dwellings priced under $500,000.  May was the first month ever that both the average and median price per foot for a downtown resale was over $400/ft.

At the extremes, asking prices for new construction high-luxury condos are approaching $1000 per foot, and there are several recently recorded transactions between $700-$800 per square foot.

Downtown condo inventory as of 6/7/2013

1) total resales available = 49
2) total new construction available = 77 est.

As of this post, there are only 13 units for sale under $500,000, and built within the past 15 years, in all of downtown Austin.  This leaves us with just over one month of inventory available for the largest segment of condo buyers in downtown’s core.

The lack of new product in the market is putting significant upward pricing pressure on resales.  With no new condo development planned in downtown, as interest rates remain low, resale prices will continue to rise to meet the demand.

DT Resale Chart - May TTM - MaxMin

You’ll recall that back in January, for the first time, the average sales price of a new construction downtown condo exceeded, $1,000,000.  There were 14 closings in May for new construction condos: the Austonian, W Hotel, and Four Seasons Residences.  Spring is sold out.  [UPDATE: The Four Seasons is sold out, with contracts pending.]  The W and Four Seasons could officially be sold out after another couple months of sales and pending contracts close.  The Austonian has a pretty good inventory remaining, but soon lacking any competition sales could accelerate quickly.

May 2013 Resale Statistics

- Total sales volume (resales only) =  $12,717,900
- # of resale transactions = 22
- avg price per foot = $453
- median price per foot = $424
- avg sales price = $578,086
- avg sales price to list price (SP/LP) = 97%
- avg condo size = 1275 sq. ft.
- avg price per bedroom = $343,727
- avg days on market (DOM) = 43 days

May 2013 New Construction Statistics

- # of new construction transactions = 14
- avg price per foot = $700-$800/ft est.
- Total new construction sales volume =  not reported

Downtown Austin New Construction Closings - Through June 7th, 2013

ProjectDate of
1st Closing		# of
Closed Units
(Clerk)		# of
Original Units
(TCAD)		% Units
Closed		# of
Remaining Units		Average
# of Days
Per Sale		Trending Completion Date (estimated)
TOTALS39347084%77
Four Seasons ResidencesMay 7, 201014014895%88July 2013
W Hotel ResidencesJanuary 10, 201114015988%196September 2013
The AustonianJune 10, 2010
113163
69%5010June 2014
The data was updated on June 7th, 2013. Any closings since then are not reflected. Only deed records counted and adjusted based on information from respective buildings' sales offices. Data does not reflect units currently under contract. Deed records for parking spaces and storage units have been removed. Combined units are divided into their respective original units when possible to determine.

DT Resale Chart - May TTM

Filed Under: Austin Real Estate Data & Statistics, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin
Downtown News & Rumor Roundup
Jude Galligan | May 31, 2013 | 2 Comments

Downtown News & Rumor Roundup

downtown-austin-news-roundup

There’s been a smattering of interesting dining news recently:

1)     The original Opal Divine’s on West Sixth Street will close on May 31st. They are currently working on a deal in the downtown area for a 5400-square-foot new Opal Divine’s. Look for an announcement soon on the exact location. Projected opening date is June 2014. (Dear lord, please don’t let another ‘effing steakhouse move in to Opal’s soon-to-be vacant space.)

2)     Memphis-based Gus’s Fried Chicken is moving into the Mongolian Grill spot, on San Jacinto and Second Street. This little stretch of downtown has consistently had well-intentioned people (Hank’s Garage, anyone) fail horribly on the stretch, but who knows… Americans love chicken.

3)     Dallas-based TexMex eatery Uncle Julio’s is setting up shop on the ground floor of the Whitley. By the look of the recent press releases the chain has issued, Austin is just one stop on Uncle Julio’s rapid expansion across America.

Austin homeless arrests present quagmire

Austin, with its warm weather and generally liberal leanings, have always been a home to a large transient and homeless population.

However, new data released by the city, in response to a request from Council Member Chris Riley, shows that for the first seven months of FY 2013, there have been more homeless-related downtown community court cases than in all of FY 2012. In addition, just about half of the cases originate from repeat offenders.

According to the city, the Austin Police Department began executing public order initiatives in fall 2012 – coincidentally, right about the time it rolled out the red carpet for Formula One – which has resulted in the problem offender population receiving many new charges, mostly related to City Ordinance violations, such as Camping in Public.

So says the city: “Unfortunately, there are extremely limited options in finding permanent supportive housing for problem offenders with extensive criminal histories. Without options for permanently housing these individuals, they will continue to receive new cases, further limiting their chances for acquiring housing.”

Go to the source here (PDF)

Council hands $2M to event promoters

The city is revamping its Special Events Ordinance, and a topic that keeps floating around the downtown neighborhood crowd is how much in fees City Council is waiving for these events.

Council Member Laura Morrison asked and got the answer: $2 million from the beginning of FY 2012 through FY 2013 year-to-date. These fees, from what I understand, are related to the costs of having traffic and public safety staff working on events and plans in place.

Not surprising, SXSW is granted the lion’s share, about a half million in waived fees.

I’m sure a lot of these organizations that are receiving waivers are fulfilling charity missions, but I’d be curious to know if the City Council ever asks for, or audits after the fact, how much of the profit generated by these events actually goes to a charity.

Go to the source here (PDF, hat tip to InFact Daily, which reported this this week. They are behind a pay wall, so no link guys.)

Amber and I got married!!!

After eight wonderful years, my longtime girlfriend Amber – who is also the backbone of my real estate business and a strong DAB contributor – and I had a wonderful downtown ceremony at 9th and Congress.

I’m going to steal a page from Car Talk and ask you to refrain from posting any congrats in the comments section. Instead, write any notes of congratulations on the back of a 27-inch iMac – with a 3.2GHz third-generation Intel Core i5 quad-core processor, high-capacity 1TB hard drive and advanced NVDIA GeForce graphics, packaged in an incredibly razor-thin, all-in-one design – and deliver it to my office. (Please write any notes in a water-soluble marker as to not hamper the resell value.)

Filed Under: downtown austin
Colorado Tower scheduled for launch next month
Jude Galligan | May 28, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Colorado Tower scheduled for launch next month

3&Colo ground

Despite some ominous rumbling on the horizon that the project could be delayed indefinitely, I’m excited to share the news this week that Cousin’s magnificent Third & Colorado office tower is breaking ground next month.

Cousin’s issued a press release Thursday announcing that the 29-story, 371,000-square-foot office tower will break ground early next month. The building has been christened “Colorado Tower” and is scheduled for near completion by the end of 2014.

The Colorado Tower project has already signed two law firm tenants — Dubois Bryant & Campbell – which now offices in 700 Lavaca — and Scott Douglass & McConnico, which now offices in 600 Congress.

Earlier this year, Austin Towers picked up on the fact that this project was running behind schedule, after Cousins initially said it would break ground last year, due to among other things, a pending zoning change that council approved earlier this year.

A lot of people are forgetting that for the longest time the lot was supposed to be a hotel: an 18-story, 300-room Westin Hotel to be exact.

Who could have predicted back in 2008 when the hotel was first announced, on the foothills of the recession, that here we’d be in 2013 with almost a 90 percent downtown Austin office occupancy rate, a smorgasbord of hotel development and an urban residential market that is bright red hot (we’re talking lightsaber red).

(Conversely, I remember Will Wynn and Brewster McCracken – former Austin council members — hyping an upcoming urban rail election back then. Who would have also predicted that here we’d be in 2013 practically no closer to real mass transit, and being outdone handsomely Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.)

Enough about that, though. Check out these renderings of Colorado Tower!

Filed Under: downtown austin, Warehouse District
News & Rumor Roundup: Bike Share Delayed
Jude Galligan | May 22, 2013 | 4 Comments

News & Rumor Roundup: Bike Share Delayed

downtown-austin-news-roundup

Bike Share delayed?

Sadly, it looks as if the bike share program in Austin is hitting some unexpected delays.

KUT reported “the program has seen complications, and that a launch planned for this spring– which would’ve coincided with May as National Bike Month – will be delayed.”

I’ve heard that some people who work at the city disagree with the KUT story, but the fact of the matter is this program – after a flurry of news and forward momentum – appears stuck in the mud.  The city has not yet released a map of where the bike share kiosks will be installed yet, let alone what the timeline is for installing the kiosks.

KUT has more

Dell Medical School will reshape NE corner of downtown

Likely you caught a whiff of news about the UT masterplan for its Austin campus, and the attached medical district, which will house the Dell Medical School. The plan has been officially approved by the Board of Regents, and will transform the northeast portion downtown for generations to come.

Among the top things likely to come up at a dinner party, which you should know:

  • The Dell Medical School is expected to open in summer 2016.
  • Phase I would require the replacement of the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
  • Within five years the UMCB (University Medical Center Brackenridge) will be demolished.
  • Within six to 15 years the Erwin Center will be demolished.

All the important points have been summarized over on Austin Towers, along with a collection of renderings and maps.

Austin Towers has more

Truluck’s expanding downtown

Truluck’s, one of the anchors of downtown’s Warehouse District, is investing more than $2 million to add a third story.

This follows a trend of reinvestment and development of properties within the Warehouse District. Work is going on now, for example, at the building that housed The Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant for decades.

Sometimes, it is easy to get fixated on the mega projects downtown, but this is a reminder that a lot of smaller projects are underway too.

Austin Business Journal has more

Wells Fargo teardown underway at 15th Street

Wells Fargo teardown

As a sign of the increasing residential density of downtown, Wells Fargo has destroyed it’s drive through bank on the corner of 15th and Rio Grande, and instead plans a full service lot there.

In place of the relic 800-square-foot drive-thru center, Wells Fargo plans to build a 4,000 square foot full-service branch, with four drive through bays and 20 parking spots.

Wondering why that block was never developed? Oddly enough, back in the 1970s and again in the 80s, the city entered into a restrictive covenant with the former property owners to limit any use of that lot to a drive-thru bank – it had been zoned for office and then CBD, but any use outside office was limited to a drive thru.  Odd.

Filed Under: downtown austin
First Phase of Green Water Construction Moving Forward?
Jude Galligan | May 15, 2013 | 5 Comments

First Phase of Green Water Construction Moving Forward?

GreenWaterNow

Move over, Seaholm!  The other massive redevelopment on Cesar Chavez, the Green Water Treatment Plant Redevelopment, is rumbling to life!

Adding to the seemingly endless list of construction occurring downtown, it looks the Green Water Treatment Plant construction could be getting underway very soon.

A site plan for a high-rise apartment on “Block 1” (110 San Antonio) – possibly climbing 38 stories – has been turned into City Hall for the lot just west of the Silicon Labs building. It’s another exciting moment for downtown Austin, and the culmination of years of “wait and see” from guys like me, who watched these project move at a glacial pace after the economy tanked in 2009.

2011 RENDERING OF VIEW FROM SEAHOLM INTAKE

2011 RENDERING OF VIEW FROM SEAHOLM INTAKE

It was way back in 2008 that Trammel Crow won the bidding process to redevelop the site, and another five years before it hammered out a deal with the city.

On May 25, 2012 the Austin City Council approved an agreement with a development team led by the Trammell Crow Company to redevelop the site with several buildings up to 30 stories tall.  The project will have 1.75 million square feet of development, including 826 apartments, 456,000 sq. ft. of office space, a 200 room hotel and 82,000 sq. ft. of retail (most along an extension of the 2nd Street  District).

GreenWater2

2011 RENDERING OF PROJECT SITE

The project hit another, unexpected, snag when a dust-up occurred over seven heritage trees that are on the site. There were some concerns that the city was applying double standards by not making the developer follow the Heritage Tree ordinance, which the city council enacted in 2010 after Trammel Crow had its plans, but before it inked a deal with the city.

In the end, Trammel Crow agreed to save the trees, but would have to sacrifice about 67,000 square feet of leasable area, and the city agreed to hand over $1.7 million to compensate them, according to the Austin Business Journal.  [h/t Chris Bradford, see comments]

We have yet to see clearly how a reduction of almost 70,000 square feet will impact the scope of the development.

Back in 2012, the per block details were posted on the SkyscraperPage forum:

GreenWaterMap

Block 23 Office
28 floors
566,074 gross square feet
524,143 usable square feet

Block 1 Residential (SITE PLAN FILED)
38 floors
682,120 gross square feet
531,700 usable square feet



Block 185 Residential
39 floors
436,975 gross square feet
336,600 usable square feet



Block 188 Hotel
19 floors
245,643 square feet

Filed Under: austin towers and high rises, development, downtown austin, Real Estate
Big News for Rainey Street District
Jude Galligan | May 3, 2013 | 5 Comments

Big News for Rainey Street District

IBCGroup_050213 sutton rainey street

By now you might have read the breaking news that the Sutton Co. is proposing to build a three-tower complex (including a 65 story tower!) across the street from Iron Works BBQ, with a tower that would be taller than the Austonian.

What you may not realize yet is that Rainey Center, the dual tower project that was supposed to encompass up to 50 stories each, and include up to 1,000 apartments and condos, next door to the Lustre Pearl in Rainey Street, is dead as envisioned… BUT will be replaced by a new concept.

RIP

Wally Scott and Mac Pike – aka the Sutton Co. –  have sold the 2-acre site to subsidiary of the Houston-based Dinerstein Companies. This information was buried in the last paragraph in a blockbuster story the Statesman published about a larger than life deal around the block.

According to information posted over at the SkyscraperPage forum, alleged to be taken from city records, Dinerstein is scrapping the dual tower concept for an eight-story mixed use building with an internal parking garage.

That’s a major let down, IMO.  Austin has no shortage of squat beige buildings. Hopefully the new proposal will retain some ‘wow’ factor.

Maybe it just didn’t make sense from a traffic management standpoint to have that much of a draw right off the Cesar Chavez and I-35 access road, and in any case enables Sutton Co. to get capital for an even more inspiring, legacy project.

Still, once people start absorbing this information, it could instill a sense of skepticism about the Sutton Co.’s latest proposal. It wasn’t long ago – after all –  that the Statesman broke news about the Rainey Center project (now Dinerstein is reducing the scope), just like it is doing now with the Waller Center project. Even the Statesman’s Shonda Novak — perennial cheerleader of Austin development — put a caveat in the first line her story about Waller Center of “if it happens”.

The details on the Waller Center project are as follows:

  • $500 million project
  • 3 acres at East Cesar Chavez and Red River streets near Waller Creek.
  • Condos/Hotel tower – 65 floors
  • Apartment tower – 35 to 45 floors
  • Office tower – 17 to 20 floors
  • Proposed groundbreaking – mid to late 2014.

We’d love to see this one happen and reflect the vision below.  It would be a huge boon to downtown, specifically the Waller Creek District.  Cheers to ambitious thinking.

IBCGroup_050213 sutton rainey street

Filed Under: downtown austin, Downtown Austin Districts, Rainey Street District, waller creek
Bank of America Drive Through at 5th & San Jacinto to Shut Down… What Will Replace It?
Jude Galligan | May 2, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Bank of America Drive Through at 5th & San Jacinto to Shut Down… What Will Replace It?

bank of america san jacinto

One of the most underutilized development sites in downtown Austin is about to transform.

Categorize this discovery as random: because I am a customer of Bank of America, I received a letter stating the drive through at 5th & San Jacinto will be shutting down.  That’s as official as it gets!

This harks back to March, when Stream Realty has contracted to purchase Tom Stacy’s mega-assemblage extending from Congress to San Jacinto.

Another parcel — a half block site on East Fifth Street between Brazos and San Jacinto — will be sold once Stream closes on the purchase. Sallis said there’s been interest from developers looking to build hotel, apartment and mixed-use projects there.  Source: Austin American Statesman

The intersection of 5th & San Jacinto is anchored by Eddie V’s restaurant, the Brazos Lofts, and a new hotel is expected to break ground this year.  Directly across San Jacinto, White Lodging is planning a 17 story, 326 room “Westin Austin Downtown.”

The Bank of America drive through can be seen in the bottom right of the image below.

6th Cong plan

Filed Under: downtown austin
Downtown News and Rumor Round-up
Jude Galligan | April 28, 2013 | 1 Comment

Downtown News and Rumor Round-up

downtown-austin-news-roundup

Leasing ABIA = urban rail?

Getting better public transportation is so centric to the future of downtown, it always surprises me that there are not more occasions to write about it. In Austin, our current plan is called “urban rail” and it has almost become this amorphous type of buzz-word over the years. If you asked ten people “what is the urban rail plan?” I bet you would get 10 answers (or more likely you’d get seven blank stares and three answers).

The long-short of urban rail is this: It is a project the old Austin mayor (Will Wynn) pitched for downtown, and one that our current mayor (Lee Leffingwell) keeps bringing up, but no other council members, or any of our main business groups, ever seem to get very vocal about.

A little while ago, the Statesman reported that City Council was hot to trot to get something passed by voters before we switch our council makeup from seven-at-large members, to ten district members and one at-large, but we have still not seen very much action.

Suddenly, this week, the Statesman reported that Mayor Leffingwell is proposing a plan to lease out our airport, aka “ABIA”, in order to fund urban rail.

Statesman has more

KUT did a follow up that notes airports in Chicago and Puerto Rico have leased their airports, but six others abandoned the privatization idea after pursuing it.

Downtown adds more retail

Toy Joy, one of the coolest shops in the city, has been up near UT for years, announced it is moving to downtown, just below the Violet Crown on Second Street.

Recently another shop, Consuela, opened up at Ninth and Congress.

This is exciting news for downtown, because retail shopping – regardless of our personal preferences – is a vital component to a thriving urban ecosystem.

Culture Map has more on Toy Joy

Statesman has more on Consuela

Eighth and Neches hotel to be eight stories

I’ve done a couple posts about this hotel, but we finally have some specs on the new hotel across from Stubbs on Red River and 8th St.

The developer plans demolish the existing 117-space (hideous-looking) garage and build three stories of parking into the sloped lot with a five-story hotel above.

The $30 million project would bring about another 200 rooms to downtown. Given that this site is just a few blocks south of the proposed medical school, I think it is a smart play.

ABJ has more

 

Filed Under: downtown austin