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!
Pic Of The Week – Downtown Austin At Dusk
Wooldridge Square Park Is Getting A Facelift
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.
Episcopal Church Site: Finally Reaching For The Heavens?
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.
BY THE NUMBERS: Downtown Austin Highrise Sales
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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Sutton Company Proposes Towers In Rainey Street District
The Statesman broke the story publicly yesterday that the Sutton Company intends to build a multi-tower 40+ story mixed-use project at the north end of the Rainey Street District. The assemblage includes 9-10 lots wrapping Rainey Street, Driskill Street, and East Ave. We’ve mocked-up a footprint of the site (below).
The renderings show two point towers, both over 40 stories, and a third office tower in the background. As a Downtown/Rainey Street neighbor, I’d love to see this project happen. This is exactly the type of concept envisioned for Rainey back when zoning was changed to CBD.
This is the second major residential concept proposed for the Rainey Street District within the past couple of months. The other being the Austin Skyhouse proposed by Andrews Urban/Novare. If built, a portion of the ad valorem taxes from these projects would contribute to the Waller Creek TIF district.