downtown austin

Bodies In Urban Spaces

Jude Galligan | April 26, 2009 |

I drove by this group of people dressed in fluorescent colored sweat-gear practicing [something] outside the downtown Austin post office, yesterday. I learn today that this is the Bodies in Urban Spaces dancers. Cool! From the website:

“…Bodies in Urban Spaces, besides being a wonder of organization and stamina, was a model of public art: free, fun, and transformative.” – Lisa Kraus Philadelphia Inquirer, 06.09.2008

Thanks to Austin Texas Daily Photo who also tells us you can catch the dancers today at 11AM in Republic Park.

-Jude

Downtown Austin: Useful Data For Protesting Your Property Taxes

Jude Galligan | April 24, 2009 |

If you plan to protest the latest property tax assessments, you can maximize your effectiveness by arming yourself with the right tools: sales comps. Property tax assessments are based on the previous year’s values. Your most immediate comps will be in your building, then your neighboring buildings, then greater downtown, etc. To get you started, we are going to focus on fourth quarter 2008 transactions. You can download the data set below.

21 = number of downtown Austin sales in Q4-2008
$311 = average sale price per foot
$263 = average sale price per foot of properties built pre-2000
$322 = average sale price per foot of properties East of Congress Ave
**this data does not include developer sales**

Not sure of your property’s value assessment? Visit Traviscad.org and search by your address. Print a copy of the protest form and submit by May 31st. BTW, the County’s value assessment has little to do with the amount you can sell your property for – so fight on!

pdf list of Q4 sales.
xls for the quants 🙂

-Jude

Lustre Pearl on Rainey Street

Jude Galligan | April 23, 2009 |

Two evenings ago, we decided to take stroll down to Lady Bird Lake. We headed south from the Sabine and as we crossed Cesar Chavez we recalled another Sabine resident had clued us in to a cool new venue called Lustre Pearl. Set at the entrance to the old-house-commercially-zoned madness that is Rainey Street, Lustre Pearl is the perfect setting for its downtown Austin location. Sitting a couple of blocks away from thousands of residents currently and soon to be living in the southeast quadrant of downtown Austin.

Inside you’re greeted to a stripped down old house with the original floors and window transoms. Outside you have lounge seating and bistro tables surrounded by a artistic metal fence. The outdoor ping-pong table is the perfect touch for Austin.

What’s really special about Lustre Pearl is that it’s removed from the traditional bar/lounge districts. Reminds me of Spider House, but without the coffee. Which brings me to the only suggestion I have for Lustre Pearl: be a cafe, too!

-Jude

Lustre Pearl

Thanks to Theresa at the Sabine for the tip!

Old Austin: A Virtual Tour

Jude Galligan | April 21, 2009 |

Old Austin Neighborhood Association has a block-by-block virtual tour of historic ‘Old Austin’. Old Austin is that part of downtown which is north of 7th, south of 15th St., east of Lamar, west of San Antonio St. At Oldaustin.org, you can learn more about the properties on each block. You can even see historical maps dated from 1839-2008 for most blocks. Check it out!

-Jude

Interesting Quote

AG | April 20, 2009 |

I’m a little behind on my reading, I’ll admit. But I find Sundays are a great day to catch up on many of the things that pass you by…..all while enjoying a mimosa or glass of wine. Anyway, last night, wine in hand, I was reading through Austin Monthly‘s March 2009 Issue (the Music Issue) and an interview with Andy Langer piqued my interest. Andy Langer is not only an Austin music journalism institution, as he’s covered the scene for years and years and lived in Austin for quite sometime, but he’s a national contributor to magazines like Esquire, and has traveled seemingly everywhere to see shows and meet bands.

Anyway, the interview was essentially just a bunch of quotes from Mr. Langer, and one sort of popped out as not only a strong sentiment, but also as being particularly relevant to this blog:

“Find me a place that doesn’t have cranes in the sky building expensive condos and you’ll find me a place that’s seriously depressed and probably a place where I can’t have The New York Times delivered on my doorstep. And I think that’s probably not a place that I wanna live.”

Andy’s credentials don’t necessarily qualify him as a real estate expert, but he’s arguably got a pretty good background in social culture and the issues surrounding Austin’s social scene. And it kind of sounds like he’s saying that the cities that aren’t building and that aren’t building projects in a way that embraces urban density and development are the cities that probably don’t have or won’t have the cultural reach/appeal that most of us generally recognize being an enhancement to our quality of life.

Source: Austin Monthly, March 2009 Issue, “Things I’ve Learned” with Andy Langer, by Paul Carruba.