Admittedly, I was one of the disappointed spectators when the original concept, proposed as “7Rio”, was reduced to 23 stories.
Still, for the past 18 months, or so, many of us have been eagerly watching the construction site at the corner of 7th @ Rio Grande. Earlier this year I speculated that Seven could even “go condo,” but it appears that multi-family development continues to have legs.
Now that downtown Austin’s Seven Apartments is approaching completion, and will be delivering residences this winter, we were invited to take a hard-hat tour of the tower. This would be a great opportunity to get some insight into a new community that’s about to open in our neighborhood. I could also start to compare how Seven will compete with existing downtown Austin apartments for rent.
I love taking hard-hat tours. There’s no better opportunity to see the guts of a building. For me, riding up the bone-jarring ear-splitting construction elevator adds to the excitement. Peeking through the elevator’s diamond perforated sheet metal, accepting your fate as it creeps higher, you get a unique sense for how each additional floor impacts your perspective of what’s around you.
Here’s what we know about Seven:
Average Residence Size = 924 sf
Average Price per SqFt = $3.05 per month
Number of floors = 23
Number of residences = 220 (172 1bds, 48 2bds)
More pictures from the tour after the jump!
Below are photos I snapped from the tour.
As I’m writing this, one-bedroom residences range from 657sf to 1,502sf with rents ranging from $2,506 to $5,120, per month. Two-bedroom residences range from 1,208sf to 1,792sf with rents ranging from $3,750 to $5,360, per month.
I won’t defend that pricing. It’s not cheap, but is on-par with what other luxury towers are quoting. However, I was not disappointed based on what was presented. The views are incredible from all vantage points. They are unique, too, given the building’s location.
I’m overall excited to see this building finally open. More feet on the ground for our downtown Austin neighborhood. It will bring a new pedestrian energy to a strip of city blocks dominated by night-time oriented bars.
IBC Tower at 5th & Nueces has been running a parallel construction schedule, and it will also open soon. Combined with Seven Apartments delivering this winter, we can expect to see more restaurant/retail venues open for daytime traffic along the West 6th Street corridor.
If you’re interested in Seven, you can check out floor plans here.
-Jude
Dividing the smallest unit size into the lowest price isn’t correct. Generally, single bedrooms trade for a higher cost per foot. The average target for the building is $3.05 per foot per month. Which means some, probably the larger units, will end up being less per foot per month.
Agreed, should have clarified that I was comparing against similar sized units across other buildings (“entry point” meaning small, 650-700 sq. ft, 1BR, similar location). Rents “ranging from $2,506 to $5,120” implies the cheapest rent would be $2,506, assuming is a small 1BR, is $3.80/sq ft, which is much higher than similar units in other buildings (Whitley, Bowie, etc).
The Seven’s previously posted (and now removed) pricing list had 1BR at lower price points, so I’m just hoping they aren’t going a decent amount higher than what I was quoted last month. Thanks for the blog, I enjoy it.
Is that correct the entry price point of a 1BR is going at $3.80 a sqft? That would make it a good deal pricier than any other building downtown. When speaking to the Seven folks earlier this year I recall prices closer to $3.00/sq ft.
The place sounds amazing but I still can quite grasp that people are may those kinds of rents!
You mentioned the parallel track for the IBC Tower. I work at 816 Congress and spoke with an IBC bank employee just last week who said they will be moving out of 816 Congress next month!
Very nice.