Gables Park Plaza – located just south of Spring Condos and wedged between Lamar and Cesar Chavez – has begun pre-leasing. With it’s completion, this is the last of the downtown Austin apartment complexes resulting from real estate boom of 2007. This location will appeal to many of the same people who are attracted to Bridges On The Park: families with dogs, those who regularly utilize the trails, and want to live near downtown but not IN downtown.
The exterior design is predictably Gables and intended for a wide audience. It’s just fine, if a bit antiseptic. I’ll have an opportunity to preview the interior finishes within a couple of weeks. Amenities will include a roof-top pool, iPod docking stations, solar shades on all windows, and bamboo floors. Expect retail on the ground floor.
Below is a schedule of completion dates (a close proxy for move-in readiness).
1st floor: Phase A ready on November 8, 2009, Phase B ready on November 22, 2009.
2nd floor: Phase A ready on December 8, 2009, Phase B ready on December 22, 2009
3rd floor: Phase A ready on January 8, 2010, Phase B ready on January 22, 2010
etc, up to the 8th floor.
1bd/1ba units range from $1,395-3,000. 2bd/2ba units range from $2,275-3,600. The B5 2bd/2.5ba – the 1859sf unit with the rounded windows and faces south (shown above) – starts at $3,575. Gables Park Plaza is offering two months free (upfront) for leases entered into during construction. Their website is www.gables.com/parkplaza.
A complete brochure of floor plans and current pricing can be downloaded here (pdf). Feel free to contact me with questions.
-Jude
UPDATE 10/09/09 – MORE PHOTOS after the jump
Ugly building. But not as ugly as some they’ve built downtown. I’ve always imagined some kind of recreation facility on that—let’s face it—flood plain, like a ball park, for example.
To make leasing your apartment even more difficult, large apartment complexes like this can significantly reduce, even waive, the security deposit. So, they have tools to make the economics very attractive while keeping the quoted rents high.
Holy freakin’ cow. Do they ever actually rent these things anywhere near these numbers?
Yes and no. This is how it has worked in recent past as new apartment buildings opened up (btw, Gables Park Plaza is the last apartment building to open up from the real estate boom): The complex sets the price they want their rents to be at. In the beginning they offer 1-3 months of free rent, depending on the demand. This way they are not technically reducing their rent, and when it comes time to renew, they renew at the originally quoted rent. Once the building is mostly leased up, they drop the 1-3 months free incentives.
I’m a landlord of a Clarksville condo within a 60-second walk of Fresh Plus; used as a 3 bedroom but really a 2+loft; and am getting about half what this complex is charging for 2 bedrooms (and thought we were pushing our luck at the present rent). Seeing that (and acknowledging our unit is 1980s era cheap, although IMO just as good a location), it is difficult to conceive where the aggregate market comes from that’s willing to spend $3K plus on rent for a mid-market apartment complex like this one.
UPDATE: Gables Park Plaza rent sheet. Prices subject to change without notice.
Any idea on the construction of these units? Are they built to condo spec? As the bottom floors will be ready first, I would be concerned about eventual overhead noise from neighbors above me.
Hmm… pretty sure Ashton offers solar shades in the price, too.
Is this the first apartment complex to offer solar shades on all windows included in the price?