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DANA's Downtown Living Tour

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Downtown Living Tour route
Downtown Living Tour route - click to see a list of buildings on the tour

The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association is hosting its annual Downtown Living Tour this Sunday.  Each year, hundreds of guests attend the DLT for the opportunity to take a walking tour of downtown Austin, and to see inside dozens of downtown buildings.

Tickets are $15. VIP Tickets are $25, and include access to the VIP Reception, Saturday, October 10th from 7-9:30pm at BoConcept, celebrating event sponsors, volunteers, and hosts.

Sunday registration will be held at Gables Park Plaza.  I will be working registration on Sunday morning.  Hope to see you there!

Purchase tickets here!

Check out the Statesman’s write up.

Oh, if you think downtown living is out of reach… consider this.

Gables Park Plaza

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Gables Park Plaza

Gables Park Plaza – located just south of Spring Condos and wedged between Lamar and Cesar Chavez – has begun pre-leasing.  With it’s completion, this is the last of the downtown Austin apartment complexes resulting from real estate boom of 2007.  This location will appeal to many of the same people who are attracted to Bridges On The Park: families with dogs, those who regularly utilize the trails, and want to live near downtown but not IN downtown.

Gables Park Plaza - the windows shown here face south over the lake
Gables Park Plaza - the windows shown here face south over the lake

The exterior design is predictably Gables and intended for a wide audience.  It’s just fine, if a bit antiseptic.  I’ll have an opportunity to preview the interior finishes within a couple of weeks.  Amenities will include a roof-top pool, iPod docking stations, solar shades on all windows, and bamboo floors.  Expect retail on the ground floor.

Below is a schedule of completion dates (a close proxy for move-in readiness).

1st floor: Phase A ready on November 8, 2009, Phase B ready on November 22, 2009.
2nd floor: Phase A ready on December 8, 2009, Phase B ready on December 22, 2009
3rd floor: Phase A ready on January 8, 2010, Phase B ready on January 22, 2010
etc, up to the 8th floor.

1bd/1ba units range from $1,395-3,000.  2bd/2ba units range from $2,275-3,600.  The B5 2bd/2.5ba – the 1859sf unit with the rounded windows and faces south (shown above) – starts at $3,575.  Gables Park Plaza is offering two months free (upfront) for leases entered into during construction.  Their website is www.gables.com/parkplaza.

A complete brochure of floor plans and current pricing can be downloaded here (pdf).  Feel free to contact me with questions.

-Jude

UPDATE 10/09/09 – MORE PHOTOS after the jump

[Read more…] about Gables Park Plaza

Gables Pressler

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[youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH4Xq1qtgeQ]

Yesterday, I headed over to the nearly completed Gables Pressler apartments on W 5th Street.  Located just a few blocks east of another new Gables development, 5th Street Commons, Pressler is being marketed as Gables most “green” project in Austin.

5th Street, west of Lamar, has evolved rapidly.  In less than a year we’ve seen the addition of dozens of new retail shops filled with local businesses along with hundreds of new residents and pedestrians improving what had been nothing more than a wide boulevard that connected Mopac to Lamar.

Ad for Presslers Garden, in the 1887 Austin City Directory
Ad for Pressler's Garden, in the 1887 Austin City Directory

Gables Pressler is named after Paul Pressler, proprietor of Pressler’s beer garden originally built where Gables stands today.  The chronicle has a great article on turn of the century beer gardens and goes on to say about Pressler:

“Pressler’s Beer Garden was located between the river and West Pecan Street (Sixth Street) in Old West Austin. Built around a steam brewery started by Paul Pressler in the early 1870s, it operated for more than 30 years before being swallowed by residential development. Situated on what was then the western fringe of the city, its idyllic rural location made it the perfect spot for relaxing under live oaks with a frothy mug of beer. It had a concert hall that regularly hosted touring German singing and theatrical acts. The grounds around the concert hall were landscaped with curving walks, ornamental shrubbery, arbors, and a fountain. The extended grounds also featured a boating ramp, a shooting club, and an alligator pond.“

The location is what sells this place – it’s equidistant to West Lynn @ 12th as it is to Whole Foods or the running trails.  There are 168 units made up of studios, 1bd, and 2bd units.  The finishes are nice.  There is an interior courtyard with a pool.  The leasing agent informed me that they are offering three months free on a twelve month lease for all leases which commence by August 31st.

Pricing as of August 4th, 2009 (pdf)

Gables Pressler
507 Pressler St
Austin, Tx 78703
(map)

-Jude

Ashton Austin Pricing

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Ashton Austin: now with pricing!
Ashton Austin: now with pricing!

Pricing for the downtown Austin apartment building, the Ashton Austin, is available – Jude Galligan, 512-226-3414, judegalligan [@] gmail.com. DAB has been covering the Ashton’s obfuscated marketing for months (click to read all posts).  It appears the building is almost ready for prime time.  One-bedrooms are large, ranging in size from 940-1029 ft. A pdf of the pricing can be downloaded here.  For a limited time, the developer is offering two months free on a 12 month lease which effectively reduces the monthly rent by at least $333 per month.

As of today the model units are not open. Judging by the landscaping and the tone of their communications I think it could be as early as this weekend that the model/sales center opens. Expectations are high from tenants who have grown tired of starkly appointed downtown Austin lofts. The photos show a high end finish out, the floor plans are large, and the views are certain to be spectacular… unless you end up staring into 100 Congress. Stay tuned!

-Jude