Downtown Austin Blog

downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog

You are here: Home / Archives for 2009

Archives for 2009

Downtown Austin condos: do the math

| |

The math
The math of Downtown Austin condos

OK.  We did the math.  Below is DAB’s analysis of the inventory of condos in Downtown Austin.

776 residences were delivered in 2008
670 +/- units have sold
106 unit surplus.

This is a net absorption of over 600 units in one year.  The 360 Condominiums has only 2 units left.

789+/- units under construction in downtown Austin
+/- 350 of the 789 units are under contract

545 +/- units remain in downtown through at least 2013.

There are no projects coming online that are not already under construction. It takes 2-3 years to build a project and it is unlikely a developer will get construction financing for another 12-18 months.

To put things in perspective, Miami area is delivering approximately 60,000 high rise condominiums during this development cycle.  Miami MSA is approximately 2,387,000 people. That is a ratio of 1 condo for every 40 Miami MSA residents.

The Austin area is delivering approximately 1565 high rise condominiums during this development cycle. Austin MSA is approximately 1,600,000 people… that is a ratio of 1 new condo downtown for every 1,022 Austin MSA residents.  A single project in downtown Miami is larger than the entire number of units being delivered in downtown Austin over a 6 year period!

360 condos retail space for sale

| |

According to Taylor Andrews of Andrews Urban, via the Statesman, the nearly 14,000sf of retail space below 360 condos is for-sale, coincidentally for about $360psf.  Royal Blue just moved in.  Mulberry is super-cool.  Haven’t been to Blu Cafe, yet.

From the article… “The space, totaling about 13,700 square feet, is almost all leased. Tenants already open or coming soon include Garrido’s, a restaurant from former Jeffrey’s executive chef David Garrido; Mulberry and the Lara Reynolds art galley.”

Proposed Federal Court House Discussion

| |

Over at Austin Contrarian we can find some interesting thoughts on the [poor] location of the proposed Federal Court House. Specifically, I give it up to Miggy for this simple, yet significant, observation:

“Taking a one-block by one-block square of valuable downtown land largely unencumbered by the capital view corridors off the tax rolls permanently doesn’t help Austin at all. This is where density should be targeted and this building is far from helping that goal. Also to say that the bunker-on-three-sides structure is pedestrian unfriendly would be an understatement.”

Also, Miggy brings up another concern about moving the post office to Red River.

“On a final note – the moving of the Post Office to over near Club de Ville and Red River makes no sense to me either. How many office workers will find that location convenient? And how will that dead retail streetfront (or worse-yet – similar suburban parking lot and drive-thru) help the still nascent Red River entertainment district which is already threatened by any number of other forces. I don’t know what the reasoning was but just based on my surface knowledge – they should have kept in the bottom of the Ovation building as planned.”

Andrews Urban and the Post Office own the block of land across from Stubbs. The post office was going to move there in order for Andrews Urban/Novare to build Ovation where the current post office is located. IMHO, Ovation has ZERO chance of being built within the next five years, so hopefully Miggy’s point is moot.

Day six, becoming a model urban neighborhood: what does Downtown Austin need?

| |

Each day this week I am serving up one item, with non-politically correct candor, that Downtown Austin needs to become a model of re-urbanization, as I see it.

Politicians love to talk, form task forces, and spend time doing everything except for making decisions as they are needed.  So, this is an appeal to Downtown Austin stakeholders that know how to get things done:  the residents, developers, retailers, and land owners.

I want Urbanrail

Take me to the drag.   Take me to South Congress.  Take me to Zilker.  Take me to the airport.  90% of the time I don’t need, or want, to go anywhere else in Austin.  An urban rail (pdf) benefits not only downtown, but ALL of the urban core.  Complemented by the commuter rail, with an urban rail system in place we can begin to reduce (if not remove) minimum parking requirements for new developments.  Reduced parking requirements translates into improved streetscapes, less congestion, and more economically productive land use (more sales taxes, more ad-valorem taxes).

CAMPO TWG you can make this happen.