Real Estate

New Rainey Street Apartment Tower Proposed: The Austin Skyhouse

Jude Galligan | January 10, 2012 |

According to an administrative site plan application filed with the city, the Austin Skyhouse is a proposed downtown Austin mixed-use apartment tower at 47 Rainey Street. If built, the tower could deliver 15,000ft of retail and 320 apartments to downtown Austin’s red hot rental market.

The ~1.4 acre site, shown below, is directly north of the Legacy apartments (187 units), and across the street from the Milago Condos (240 units). The CBD zoned property has long been expected to be developed into a tower, so this shouldn’t be received with much surprise.

According to the application: “The applicant is proposing to construct Apt. Tower/Retail and Garage/Retail with associated improvements.” The applicant is familiar to downtown Austin development – Novare/Andrews Urban – the same team who developed the successful 360 Condos.

Since Milago has the dominant lake and city view for the first twelve floors, we’ll hopefully see a tall tower over podium design where most of the units’ views would clear Milago’s roof. Given the parking challenges in the Rainey Street district, perhaps we’ll see extra parking included in the design which could be available to visitors to the neighborhood.

This is the latest of several proposed downtown Austin high rise projects catering to renters. Riverside Resources is under construction of their 20 story building at 3rd Street & San Jacinto. 7 Rio looks like it is being repurposed as a rental product and could break ground this year.

(UPDATE 1: Novare is building the Skyhouse concept in Atlanta on what looks to be a similarly configured site. UPDATE 2: we’ve confirmed the tower will be 23 stories and could break ground as early as May.)

DAB EXCLUSIVE: Sales Data From The Austonian, W Hotel Residences, Four Seasons, Spring Condos

Jude Galligan | October 24, 2011 |

[Personal update why we’ve not published data for a while. A couple of months ago, I began work on obtaining sales data from the newly constructed buildings. Not a quick and easy task. However, after several conversations and a leap of faith by everyone involved in assembling the data (thanks!), we’ve got some REALLY interesting data to share. –Jude]

Back in 2010, when downtown Austin’s luxury condos started closing, the actual sales prices were closely guarded (not entered into the MLS). I’ve been publishing monthly sales of Downtown Austin condos for years, and began tracking sales of new construction condos by laboriously tracking new deed records. That data was [at least] an accurate count of how many new constructions units had closed, and what floor plans were selling best. That was real data my clients could rely upon, but actual closing prices were simply not available.

As a result, I have only been able to consistently highlight resale pricing. With all of my talk about the average sale price for downtown is solidly planted at $300 per foot, I would always qualify it as incomplete without closing price data for new condos.

My goal has always been to combine the resale numbers and the new construction numbers into a single statistic. The closely guarded luxury condo sales data has kept me from doing that.

Until now… [Read more…] about DAB EXCLUSIVE: Sales Data From The Austonian, W Hotel Residences, Four Seasons, Spring Condos

New Renderings Of Park Plaza Tower

Jude Galligan | July 16, 2011 |

Architect Ziegler Cooper has posted new renderings of Gables Park Plaza’s nascent mixed-use neighbor. Site plan approval from the city has been extended through February of 2012.

Near the intersection of Cesar Chavez and Lamar, back in the day this site was home to Cedar Door (910 Cesar Chavez) which was moved to Brazos @ 2nd.

I like the design. It successfully handles a few site specific challenges, notably a Capitol View Corridor and train track. Thanks to downtown resident Mitchell McGovern for the heads up! Pics after the jump…

And Then There Were Two

Jude Galligan | June 27, 2011 |

A well timed announcement for a 50+story hotel at Red River and Cesar Chavez has shifted the attention away from the Mariott Marquis seeking a waiver of $4MM in development fees.

The latest hotel announced by Manchester Texas Financial Group is receiving good reviews for its design, ambition, and potential for embracing the Waller Creek District Master Plan.

To be clear, there really isn’t a choice here. Each project is pushing forward on their own merits. But the timing begs the question “which building can break ground first?”.

Both would be significant additions to the skyline and economy. Development fee waivers, if any, will likely go to the project that is most prepared and that can begin construction soonest.

That’s incentive!

Below is a rendering of the “Grand Hotel” at Waller Creek

Downtown Austin Condo Sales Remain Strong In May

Jude Galligan | June 7, 2011 |

For the first time since the bubble burst, the average price per square foot of a downtown Austin condo has increased four months in a row. Last month, downtown Austin closed 62 condos* with 29 more pending!

Highlights

In May, we counted 41 closings of new-construction condos from the Four Seasons Residences, W Hotel, Austonian, Spring Condos, and Barton Place. The W takes the cake with 15 closings in May.

On the other hand, the number of resales comes in at 21 units closed – a strong showing – averaging a price of $334 per square foot. We also count 29 resales pending as of May 31st! So, we can expect next month’s closing count to be similarly strong.