Archives for 2012

Thursday CASH MOB @ Congress Avenue Card & Gift Shop

Jude Galligan | April 4, 2012 |

A Cash Mob is the same premise as a flash mob, but people all show up at a local business and spend money. It’s a simple and fun way to encourage people to support small local businesses by spending their money en mass.

How can I participate?

Just show up! Bring $20.00 to spend, a few friends and come to the Congress Avenue Card and Gift Shop to give a local business an “economic stimulus”. It’s a win/win, spend some money locally with friends and buy some cool stuff!

Event Details:
When: Thursday, April 5th 12-2pm
Where: Congress Avenue Card and Gift Shop (615 Congress Ave. bw 6th & 7th St.)
Why: Help a local business!
Bring: $$$ and Friends

Wanderlust LIVE – Open House on April 13th

AG | April 2, 2012 |

We wrote about the changing face of the Railyard district not too long ago, and one of the new establishment mentioned was Wanderlust, a new Yoga Studio and Live Music Venue that’s opening soon on the northeast corner of 4th and Brazos.

Well, we’ve recently learned a bit more about the concept and wanted to share…..

So a short summary of the back-story – apparently, Austin locals Ashley Spence Clauer and Joanna Kutchey were so inspired by the Wanderlust Festival, that they decided to bring it to Austin!

And here are some excerpts from a press release sent by their marketing department directly to our office:

Located in a revamped historic warehouse in the heart of the entertainment district of downtown Austin, Wanderlust LIVE’s impeccably designed space is not your average yoga studio. Featuring two studios—one for regular classes and one with a built in stage and top of the line sound and lights—the 6,000 square foot Wanderlust LIVE will offer Austinites a new place to rock out, consciously.

……

Truly bringing the festival experience home, Wanderlust LIVE will feature organic eats by Austin’s Blenders and Bowls—serving healthy and delicious organic acai bowls, natural fruit smoothies, coffee, tea and more. The studio’s outdoor patio seating will provide ample space to eat, relax after class or sip a beverage at Wanderlust happy hour. At all live music and other special nighttime events, attendees also may enjoy organic beer and hand picked biodynamic wines. And inside, the Wanderlust LIVE Boutique will offer specialty yoga gear and apparel.

It looks like this place is going to have a few uses – retail, restaurant / bar, live music venue, and yoga studio. What’s not to love? And, they’ll be hosting an open house on April 13th, the Friday before they open to the public.

I know that I’m getting a little excited about it after reading about it – and will definitely want to check it out!

Virtual Flyover Of The 3rd & Brazos Apartment High Rise

Jude Galligan | March 29, 2012 |

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)

DAB Stats: Downtown Austin Sales

Jude Galligan | March 28, 2012 |

February delivered strong numbers for sales of downtown Austin condos. I count nine new construction sales and 14 resales (compared to six and 10 in January respectively).

The 14 resales averaged $397 per square foot – the highest monthly average for resales that I can remember. Don’t mistake this for accelerating appreciation, though. Included in February’s numbers is a resale at the Austonian. And, while there’s clearly a gradual upward trend in the resale market, February’s price-per-foot surge is attributable to this burgeoning market for resales in the top-tier buildings.

downtown austin condo sales - february 2012 — trailing 12 months of downtown condo sales

You can anticipate that by the end of March all of the top-tier buildings will [factually] be over 50% closed. Each has already crossed the chasm.

Notably, Spring condos has only a couple of new units left, the [seriously amazing] penthouse(s) being one of them. For most buyers, Spring condos can be considered sold out and opportunities to buy are in the resale market. The Four Seasons Residences leads the pack in terms of percentage of units sold, though the W Hotel Residences is showing the greatest velocity. See below.

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Recent History: An Original Railyard Condos Marketing Flyer

Jude Galligan | March 23, 2012 |

This piece of real estate ephemera fell into my hands only a day ago. I didn’t set out to publish two consecutive posts about the Railyard, but this was too interesting not to share!

Most of you know the Railyard condos were converted from apartments in the late ’90s. This flyer was intended to lure renters of the original Railyard apartments into buyers of the soon-to-be condos before opening them up for purchase by the general public.