downtown austin

Brazos Place Auction Results

Jude Galligan | May 17, 2009 |

[youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWcxxbMI8Ks]

Brazos Place is officially sold out. Today, in less than 90 minutes, 19 downtown Austin residences were sold at an average discount of 29% from asking price. The best deal of the day was probably the penthouse: 2745 feet purchased for $967,200, originally priced at $1,575,000. The unit that was being advertised with a starting bid of $80,000 sold for $168,480 (OLP was $199,900). I was able to take video of that particular auction and you can watch it above.

Below is a brief summary and you can download the complete results here (pdf).

Units sold: 19
Square feet: 23,088
Avg sale price per foot: $281.80
Avg discount from OLP: 29%

-Jude

4th Street Stairway Of Death Becoming Less Deadly

Jude Galligan | May 16, 2009 |

[Thanks to DANA’s Greg Anderson for the pics!]

If you’ve been to the downtown Austin warehouse district you might agree that part of the appeal is the intermittent above grade pedestrian experience. Always precarious, though I never witnessed anyone fall. The staircase across from the Spaghetti Warehouse has always been especially dicey.

The City of Austin is making some changes. You will no longer risk breaking an ankle (or a head) crossing the street at 4th & Colorado.

Was it mom and stroller friendly? No. Was it ADA friendly? No way. Was it deadly? Well, almost, but not because of the stairs. Was it charmingly awkward? I think so.

Is this a good use of city funds right now, perhaps at the greater expense of the neighborhood’s magic formula? You be the judge.

BTW, have you joined DANA yet?

Uninspired design — Can we at least have some ivy or vines on the walls?

Waller Creek District Master Plan

Jude Galligan | May 14, 2009 |

People viewing the Waller Creek District designs

From the City of Austin website: In February 2009, the City authorized the Roma Design Group to begin the Waller Creek District Master Plan. Over the next 10 months, ROMA will work to identify a community vision for the area, identify opportunities and challenges, and recommend ways to make the vision become a reality. Currently much of the land near Waller Creek cannot be developed because it is in the creek’s 100-year floodplain.

Yesterday’s town hall at the convention center to discuss Waller Creek District Master Plan was the largest turnout I’ve seen for Waller Creek. The large audience seemed to collectively understand the need for change. ROMA design group shared a draft vision for the district’s potential. A couple of things become salient yesterday. This will not become Riverwalk “2”. Development will happen to pay for the tunnel and also to encourage the creek’s use. Development recommendations should not be uniform along the creek as different sections offer unique settings.

Segments of Waller Creek:

North bank to Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez to 5th Street
5th Street to 7th Street
7th Street to 11th Street
11th Street to 15th Street

This is good. As an example of the necessity for different sections, compare the North bank to Cesar Chavez with 5th Street to 7th Street. The latter has a beautiful natural limestone bed (in most parts) but is narrowly channeled. The former has more rough terrain and dangerous erosion along the banks. Breaking up the creek into different sections allows for more focused discussion on highest and best use.

As one of the ROMA representatives said, I’m paraphrasing, “Waller Creek is the most significant urban planning endeavor of our generation”. Amongst a myriad of other benefits, this the Waller Creek Districrt has the opportunity to bridge East Austin with downtown, to fundamentally improve Waterloo park and Palm park, and to provide a green setting which to traverse downtown north-south and connect with Lady Bird Lake trails.

Ashton Austin Pricing

Jude Galligan | May 12, 2009 |

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

Political Property

Jude Galligan | May 11, 2009 |

Using the Travis County Appraisal District’s website, Traviscad.org, I pulled the appraisal values for the homesteads belonging to our city’s politicians. Before I did this, I had a limited knowledge of which neighborhoods our elected officials hail from. For most people their homes are their biggest investment, and I generally believe our politicians are pretty typical. There is some interesting information contained in these values. For instance, former Austin Neighborhood Council president Laura Morrison’s Old West Austin property is worth $1,429,485! I’ve heard through the grapevine that as recently as last year Marc Ott rented in downtown Austin’s AMLI on 2nd, but is currently in Circle C. Mayor Will Wynn lives with his family in downtown Austin’s Austin City Lofts. Randi Shade lives in a Clarksville condo. Brewster McCracken is perhaps renting north of UT at the mixed-use development, the Triangle. Mike Martinez lives in the Holly district of East Austin (I couldn’t find the record but I know the neighborhood). Mayor elect Lee Leffingwell calls Highland Park West Balcones Neighborhood home. Sheryl Cole and her family live in the neighborhood I can best describe as Cherrywood or northern French Place.

See the list after the jump!
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