Jude Galligan

Jude Galligan · June 30, 2012

The 600 block of W. 5th Street has strangely evolved to host a single use: drive through banks.

Yesterday’s Statesman article announcing Endeavor’s forthcoming development of IBC Bank Plaza left me chuckling, as I wondered about the market forces leading to this.

It’s quite odd. Unlike retail or entertainment districts, there are no obvious economies of agglomeration with several drive through banks near each other. They don’t even share driveways.

This particular block of 5th Street has nice wide great-streets-style sidewalks, which the respective developers paid for. And I grant you, the surface parking is neither attractive nor productive. I’m not complaining about the new IBC Bank. It’s just a curious situation.

Jude Galligan · June 8, 2012

I spend so much time walking through downtown, I forget how pretty it is to look at from across the river. Hat tip to David Gottlieb!

austin congress ave bridge no bats — Downtown Austin's Congress Ave bridge by David Gottlieb

Jude Galligan · June 7, 2012

Wooldridge Square Park is closed for the next year, or so, as it receives improvements to the irrigation and landscaping.

Amidst a sea of bureaucratic bunk houses, a Malaise Era parking garage, a jail, and a drive-thru Bank of America, the park’s central gazebo and the close Austin History center can still conjure up memories of a shaded and serene sloped park hill.

Wooldridge Square was a part of the original plans for the City of Austin as laid out by Edwin Waller in 1839. It became a dedicated park in 1909 when then-Mayor Wooldridge cleared and drained the site for civic green space. The gazebo in the center of the park was added in 1910 and has a rich history of political speeches and gatherings for State, County and City officials.

The park is recently best known for hosting giant chess, and being the defacto setup for Mobile Loaves & Fishes, which helps feed Austin’s homeless population.

A couple of months ago, I headed over to play giant chess in the evening. Very enjoyable. No safety concerns, personally, but it’s clear that vagrancy keeps the masses at a distance.

If Wooldridge’s challenges can be distilled into three buckets, below is how I would describe them:

1) no surrounding pedestrian-oriented uses (attraction)
2) vagrancy (perception of safety)
3) poor/no irrigation (placemaking, grass)

Within a year, the irrigation should be improved. I understand that alternative placement or better coordination with MLF is being discussed. There’s a higher and better use for that parking garage and Bank of America, and those will eventually be replaced.

This is progress.

Jude Galligan · May 22, 2012

Back in 2009, the Episcopal Church paid $9.5MM for a 1.6 acre city block bounded by Trinity, Neches, and 7th Street.

The purpose of the site, which is currently a surface parking lot, is widely believed to house their national archives.

The Episcopal Church recently submitted a Capitol View Corridor (CVC) height determination application with the city. This application is the first step in knowing how tall they can build.

2/3 of the site is encumbered by a CVC, so I suspect any building on this site will be capped at a few stories.

The application proposes commercial, mixed-use.

Jude Galligan · May 10, 2012

In light of the recent Statesman article highlighting new construction sales, I thought this would be a good time to update our trending chart for downtown condos.

Combined sales of new construction and resales of downtown Austin condos delivered a seasonally strong 46 transactions representing $26,720,149 total sales volume in March.

Currently there are 95 resales and 197 new construction condos available for sale in the downtown Austin core. That’s not many. Within the past 12 months, we’ve seen 201 resales and 186 new construction sales.

In the chart below, that little red trend line for average resale price per foot gets steeper each month as we see more resales in the top-tier buildings. By this time next year, you will be able to count the total availability of new construction condos on two hands.

March 2012 Resale Statistics

- # of resale transactions = 29
- avg price per foot = $364
- avg sales price to list price (SP/LP) = 97%
- avg days on market (DOM) = 32 days
- Total resales volume =  $12,038,599

March 2012 New Construction Statistics

- # of new construction transactions = 17
- avg price per foot = $554
- Total new construction sales volume =  $14,681,550

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Downtown Austin’s Defacto Financial District

Pic Of The Week – Downtown Austin At Dusk

Wooldridge Square Park Is Getting A Facelift

Episcopal Church Site: Finally Reaching For The Heavens?

BY THE NUMBERS: Downtown Austin Highrise Sales