What is downtown Austin missing? What is working? Where is retail trailing demand?
Leave your ideas in the comments.
Downtown Austin Open Houses
(Looking for this week’s open houses? You’ll find them here.)
Open houses in downtown Austin for Sunday, November 8th
The great thing about downtown Austin open houses is that you can generally walk from building to building. Take a stroll downtown now that summer is over and the temperature is cooler. If you’re into adaptive reuses of older buildings, checkout DAB’s list of downtown Austin lofts. Looking for FHA approved condos? We’ve got the info here.
This weekend you can browse at your own pace at the 5 Fifty Five, 360 condos, Spring, and the Austonian sales center.
Sunday
1) 360 Nueces St #3811, 2bd, 2ba, $576,700, 1-4pm [Urbanspace] map
2) 360 Nueces St #1616, 2bd, 2ba, $435,000, 2-4pm [Keller Williams] map
3) 555 E 5th St #713, 2bd, 1ba, $375,000, 2-5pm [Remax] map
4) 555 E 5th St #2811, 1bd, 1ba, $399,555, 2-5pm [Capital City Sothebys] map
5) 300 Bowie St, Spring sales center, model units, 1-5pm map website
6) 200 Congress Ave, Austonian sales center located at 300 W 6th, 12-5pm map website
Tax Credit For Buying A Condo
“it’s official” yada yada… lot’s of noise about this on the ‘tubes in recent weeks, but Obama has officially signed off on everything. I’ve yet to confirm if the FHA will continue to allow buyers to monetize this credit [on FHA approved condos] in order to use it as a down payment. If so, that makes this program even more attractive.
The chart below is helpful in clearly outlining what’s available and changing.
This Week's Chronicle Feast
This week’s Chronicle is packed with interesting articles.
1) Wells weighs in on downtownAustinfacts.com.
2) Katherine Gregor nearly writes a book comparing Austin’s efforts toward regional sustainability to Copenhagen’s embrace of sustainable mobility and bicycles. BTW, have you seen the BIXI system of shared bicycles? 🙂
3) Is a planetarium bound for Austin? Richard Garriott believes it’s a good idea.
Republic Square Park Improvements
One of downtown Austin’s most cherished parks is Republic Square, located between 4th and 5th streets, just west of the Plaza Lofts. The park has been under construction, recently getting a much needed face lift. Charlie McCabe, director of the Austin Parks Foundation, visited with DANA yesterday to discuss the progress of the park’s improvements, and to share a bit of history.
Did you know this is where Edwin Waller, the first Mayor of Austin and the namesake of Waller Creek, in 1839 held the original land auction for Austin’s downtown blocks?
“…city lots were auctioned under the shade of the live oak trees on what is now called Republic Square. A small grove of live oaks – known as the Auction Oaks – survive at the southwest corner of the square today.”
The focal point of the park is a 300 year old oak tree. Considering this was a parking lot for decades, with asphalt up to the tree, it’s astonishing these trees have survived so long. The new design by TBG Partners gives the tree breathing space with a raised ipe wood deck built around the tree.
Other changes to the park include leveling the berms – the raised artificial grass hills – which limited visibility into the park. Republic Square will actually grow by 17′ to the west, as San Antonio St becomes a promenade in front of the stairs to the still-under-construction Federal Courthouse. Beginning in January, when the phase one improvements are complete, the Austin Farmers Market will relocated into the park.
The Austin Parks Foundation works diligently to raise money for Austin parks. The $450,000 improvement budget comes from the Austin City Limits music festival, Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, Downtown Austin Alliance, General Services Administration, Gables Apartments, and others.