It’s time to bid farewell to Downtown Austin Blog. After a decade of documenting the remarkable evolution of downtown Austin, I’m redirecting my focus to TOWERS.net, where we are delivering fresh updates on Austin real estate. Our intention is to maintain the site as an archive, recognizing the valuable reference material it holds as Austin’s urban landscape evolves. Throughout the years, Downtown Austin Blog has served as a platform for diverse voices, and I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all who have contributed, commented, and read along. Thank you.
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Does Austin Need A Market For Air Rights?
I’m not talking fresh air. I’m talking about the municipal zoning God given right to build to the heavens.
The recent plan for 3rd & Colorado – a residential tower that I’m excited to see more of, if not disappointed that it isn’t taller – reminded me of a policy discussion that lost steam a few years back focused on preservation of the Warehouse District. Back in 2009 influencers with a preservationist slant vocalized concern that the charm of the Warehouse District would eventually lead to its demise unless measures were taken to limit height and density in the district.
Back then, one of the recommended approaches to preservation was facilitating the Transference of Development Rights (TDR), aka. “air rights.” That seemed like a smart way to handle preservation of low-rise historic-ish buildings sitting on highly desired CBD building sites. Creating a market for air rights in Austin would, in theory, enable property owners to capture the value of their dirt, without having to build on the site, thus able to preserve historic buildings.
The topic was dropped in 2011 when the Downtown Austin Plan (DAP) was formally adopted featuring a “density bonus” program. Recently, I’ve been participating in the DAA’s CodeNEXT task force, and we’re discussing policies that would encourage building tall on small CBD sites, notably sites that are mid-block. With CodeNext happening, this seems like a good time to rekindle the discussion.
Why would a builder want to buy air rights?
- additional density
- protect views
Why would a property owner want to sell air rights?
- property is too small, oddly shaped, or mid-block thus more difficult to develop
- capture value without having to redevelop
Why would a city want to permit air rights to be transferred?
- additional density
- encourage more development on smaller lots
- historic preservation
That last question is the one I can’t reconcile completely. The City of Austin uses the Density Bonus program to subsidize affordable housing.
Would an air rights market, in its simplest form, circumvent those fees-in-lieu [of building affordable housing] from being collected? [Read more…] about Does Austin Need A Market For Air Rights?
WTF is Austin’s CodeNext and Why the ‘Eff Should I Care?
[UPDATE January 30, 2017: Link to first official draft of CodeNEXT]
You’ve likely stumbled across the phrase “CodeNext” somewhere on the interwebs, figured it was another facacta Austin planning scheme, and so you just jumped back to reading Deadspin.
CodeNext (single word) is the multi-year effort to redevelop Austin’s Land Development Code, also called the LDC. In theory, the LDC codifies what can be built, where it can be built, and how it must be built.
The CodeNext project is massive, and not without controversy. It’s fair to point out the project has drawn fire from the community for getting off track and over budget (a latter point the city flatly refutes).
The planning stages are almost complete, and a draft will be released to the public in January. God only knows what will come after the release, given the myriad of special interests that have a stake in shaping what parts of the draft would stay or go. But, we’ll deal with that in 2017.
Monthly CodeNext meetings are held each month through October, with the next being August 22nd. They are quite lengthy and to that end can be viewed online. You can also request a presentation from the city here.
Aint nobody got time, Jude, why the ‘eff should I care about CodeNext?
The city has devoted an entire web page to that question, but in very simplistic real estate terms, this effort had the potential to improve the ease, speed, cost and consistency of new development and redevelopment in Austin.
As a result, CodeNext will directly affect your life in three key areas:
- housing affordability
- transportation
- the “look & feel” of the city
In the most literal sense, you will see and feel the results of CodeNext as you go about your future life in Austin.
More subjectively, you should care because one day you may own property. On that day you will realize you’ve morphed into a gray-haired republican, realize that property taxes are a bitch, you’ll hate that the big government tells you what you can/can’t do with your own damn property, and that Reagan had some not-so-bad ideas about small government. OR, you’re one of those perpetual renters (media calls you “Millennials”) who can only afford to live 13 gridlocked miles from downtown Austin, and you’re rightfully indignant observing all the undeveloped land in Central Austin where density is blocked by zoning in Dixiecrat fashion.
So, what does the LDC look like?
Well, the city has laid different zoning types here in a fairly simple manner. They’ve also summarized various zoning classifications in a “simple” to read 100 page pdf here. If you’re a glutton for punishment you can wade through the current LDC here.
I wanted to try to explain it in the context of why this effort is underway.
- The laws passed by City Council are inked in the “Code of Ordinances” also known as “city code.” These are the laws of the land in the city limits. For example, the law that you can’t text and drive is written into the “city code”. (§ 12-1-34 to be exact. The symbol “§” is a character often used to refer to a particular section of the law.)
- The city code is organized by 30 “Titles” of which Title 25 is Land Development Code, or LDC, which regulates development within the city’s planning and zoning jurisdiction.
Follow me so far? Good because here is where it gets messy.
- The basic structure of the existing LDC has four major structural levels below Title, which are: Chapter (such as § 25-1); Article (such as § 25-1-1); and finally Section (such as § 25-1-1(a)).
- This organizational structure has been amended over the past 30 years with additional layers added, such as: “Division”, “Sub-chapter”, and “Subpart”. While these new layers have been added, the methodology for numbering the layers for ease of referencing has not been updated, making the numbering system ineffective at allowing a user to understand where in the hierarchy of the LDC the reference exists. Hence the shifting labyrinth depending on who you’re talking to.
Moreover, Austin has 39 base districts described in the Land Development Code that “zone” parts of town for development. For example, they might be zoned “SF-1” for “single family – large lot” or SF-6 for “townhouse or condominium”. However, when you add all the layers that can be overlaid on top of the base zones, you end up with almost 400 possible different combinations!
Revamping the LDC is essential because navigating Austin’s code is like walking through a labyrinth, and depending on who you speak with in which city department and how they interpret one piece of code versus another conflicting piece, the labyrinth is always shifting. Not good.
Summary
Austin seems to do more planning than actually doing. At times, keeping up with all the planning efforts can be demoralizing, when most of us simply want pragmatic and moral leadership at City Hall. Truthfully, the point of this post was so that I could answer: “why I should care about CodeNext?” If you live in Austin, then CodeNext will touch something in your life… where you live, where you work, what that building looks like, and how you get there.
Whatever is adopted will certainly be better than the labyrinth of laws and plans that citizens of Austin currently must navigate in order to comply. Hopefully, the next time you see “CodeNext” it won’t be a nebulous city process, and instead, you’ll understand why people are passionate about it when the draft is released this coming January.
~Jude
Windfall – Villas on Town Lake is being sold
Downtown Austin’s Villas on Town Lake condos home owners’ association (HOA) will agree to sell the entire property – comprised of 57 individually owned condos – to The Sutton Company, who beat out a handful of bidders. More than one source close to the deal has rumored the amount of the offers [plural] were in the ballpark of $50,000,000.
This is exceptionally interesting because we normally expect to see development activity on surface parking lots, or on an assemblage of adjacent parcels. The Villas is a fully occupied condominium! This means there are multiple owners, strong personalities, and diverse motivations. Corralling everyone into agreement is a herculean task.
What’s so special about the Villas?
Situated along Waller Creek, the Villas on Town Lake condominium is one of downtown Austin’s older mid-rise residential buildings. Villas is a modest, courtyard-style, community, built long before the Rainey Street neighborhood became a “district.”
Most importantly, Villas On Town Lake is coveted for its location.
The site is one of downtown Austin’s most desirable. With only city-owned park land between it and Lady Bird Lake, if Villas were to be razed and rebuilt as a tower, it would deliver views of the lake and hill country, with adjacent access to Waller Creek, Lady Bird Lake, and the hike & bike trail. The site is not encumbered by Capitol View Corridors and has CBD zoning.
Villas vitals:
- Located at 80 Red River Street, Austin, TX 78701
- Built in 1982
- Number of units = 57
- Total Square Feet (private, conditioned) = 65,791
- Total Square Feet (including Common) = 99,770
- Average unit size = 1,154 ft
- 80% of air-conditioned area = 52,631.2 ft (appox: 46 units)
- 80% of Total Area = 79,816 ft
How does this happen?
Property rights in Texas are such that a condominium association can dissolve itself. When this happens ownership reverts to a single parcel with tenancy in common, and proceeds from a hypothetical sale are distributed based on percentage of ownership. The HOA can sign deeds of units that have not volunteered to sell.
(I welcome comments from real estate attorneys who can shed light on the mechanics of this.)
Years ago the Villas HOA had the foresight to realize the market would eventually grow to a point where the modest condo community was no longer the best use of the land. In 2006, the Villas HOA revised their bylaws to allow 80 percent of the Villas ownership could vote to dissolve the entire HOA. This change paved the way for a deep pocketed buyer to buy the whole shebang with only 80% of the owners needing to agree.
In September of last year, the Villas HOA issued a Request for Proposals from development groups. Groups like World Class Capital are rumored to have been among the bidders. The winning bidder, The Sutton Company, is one of Austin’s most prolific developers, responsible for several downtown Austin condo projects, including: Plaza Lofts, Avenue Lofts, Brazos Lofts, and the 5 Fifty Five. They also assembled the land for the Millennium Rainey, and are developing the land adjacent to the Villas as Waller Park Place.
Is it a good deal?
Yes, it is, for both buyer and seller.
If the rumored $50,000,000 is close to the purchase price, then the average price per foot of “saleable” space is $759/ft!! Based on the average unit size, were someone to try and accumulate control of 46 units – the number I estimate required to gain 80% control of the Villas – would take approximately 14 years to do based on historic sales velocity.
Accelerating 14 years of effort requires offering a premium to market right now; however, the winning bidder also owns the adjacent property and can reasonably expect to recoup that premium.
Per the MLS, 63 units have sold at the Villas since the summer of 1997. In 1997, market price for a typical condo at Villas on Town Lake was ~$100 per foot. Now, imagine for a minute that you’re an owner at Villas back in 1997 and a someone approached you saying, “I will pay you double the market rate, $200 per foot!” Most reasonable people would agree to less than double the market rate from an unsolicited offer. If anyone wants to pay me twice market value for my place… I’m ready to talk!
The most recent sales record we have for a one bedroom at Villas was from March 2015, when a 675 sf condo sold for $279,000. So, if the rumored amount of the winning bid – $50,000,000 – is close to accurate and proceeds are distributed by square foot, then that same built-in-1982 Villas one-bedroom may be closing for $512,325. That’s a windfall.
Kudos to the Villas for getting it.
~ Jude
A Drive Through Austin – June 1996
This is an amazing time capsule of a video.
Twenty years ago this video was shot by Pete Reid and his buddy, Brian. Pete was a visiting student from Scotland at UT.
The video takes us from UT, down the Drag, along Guadalupe into downtown Austin. The video quality isn’t great, but it is good enough for some good nostalgia to kick in. From Pete’s Youtube description:
“We drove down the Drag passing the Hole in the Wall, Tower Records, some drag rats, and Miami Subs. Then down Guadalupe passed the Dog and Duck, Liberty Lunch, an empty Austin skyline, and hardly any traffic. “
It starts off with shots of the Drag. For me the most interesting part is about five minutes in when you can catch glimpses of how downtown Austin has evolved. Notably:
0:44 – Tower Records on the Drag
5:24 – on the left, Guadalupe @ 5th, that parking lot is where Plaza Lofts is now.
5:52 – on the left, Guadalupe @ 2nd, that white building is now where Austin City Hall is located. The camera pans to the right to show Liberty Lunch.
6:27 – approaching and crossing Cesar Chavez
7:01 – shots of downtown Austin from 1st Street Bridge
Thanks to Pete Reid for sharing this on Youtube, and to Chris James putting it on my radar.
~ Jude
New downtown Austin train station making room for pedestrian plaza
The downtown Austin “Red Line” train station is about to undergo a significant makeover, that will add room for two more trains at the station. The capacity upgrade is expected to double the people (from >400 to 800) to commute to downtown from north Austin during rush hour.
However, the final design seems to be departure from any of the proposed concepts.
[Read more…] about New downtown Austin train station making room for pedestrian plaza
Downtown Thriving as a Live-Work-Play Community
Nice story in The Statesman about the vibrant community that continues to grow downtown – not just in terms of nightlife, but also new economy jobs and associated residents: Austin’s Tech Scene Heats Up Downtown.
It’s worth pointing out however that all this has not “just happened” by itself.
It has been 15+ years in the making with great purpose by the likes of the Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA), the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA), Mayors Kirk Watson, Will Wynn, Lee Leffingwell and their City Councils, the Downtown Austin Plan, and many more driving forces.
Except for weekday lunchtime and weekend nights on East 6th, it was a veritable ghost town when my team first opened an expanded Wild About Music down here in 1995, then started living here in 1999.
There’s still a ton of work to be done around issues of homelessness and vagrancy (two different matters), affordability (having only $50/ft rents and million dollar condos is not sustainable), traffic (a car-free zone?), and that IH-35 east-west barrier.
Dave Sullivan, longtime Austin civic leader during this big growth period, also just told me: “When I joined the City Planning Commission in 1994, software development was a prohibited use Downtown. I remember voting to change that in the late 90s. Seems incredible.”
Incredible indeed, Dave.
And a worthy update: After this story published I received a note from a longtime steward of Downtown Austin’s evolution, Michael Knox, of the City’s Economic Development Department. He filled in another 10 years of preparation that went into the creation of today’s Downtown before my timeline even picks up. Mike says:
“I started working on downtown in 1988, when it was part of AustinPlan’s Sector 1. Of course AustinPlan, the comprehensive plan update to replace Austin Tomorrow, was never adopted.
“In 1989 we (Jose Martinez and I) started working with the Downtown Commission, actively promoting a thing called R/UDAT. The 1990 R/UDAT application we co-wrote was accepted, and in 1991 we got the R/UDAT team visit and report, followed in 1992 by “A Call to Action: R/UDAT Implementation” that, in 1993 gave birth to the Downtown Austin Alliance and the Austin Downton PID. These efforts involved hundreds of dedicated Austinites.
“Downtown initiatives were kicked up a notch in 1997 when Kirk Watson became Mayor, and Assistant City Manager Jim Smith (now Aviation Director) and I put together Kirk’s first six downtown initiatives, including the Waller Creek tunnel, Downtown Design Guidelines and the Poleyard and AMLI developments.”
So there you go…another of Downtown Austin’s many unsung heroes. We thank you, Michael Knox.
~Fred
Chill Out
Leave no stone unturned. Check out how Austin Energy wants to use a sliver of downtown land, next to Gables Park Tower, for a new chilling station.
The site dimensions make the site pretty much unusable for intense development, so it is great to see a municipal use. AE has engaged Cotera Reed to handle the design. The project is being presented to the City of Austin Design Commission on the 25th.
Many downtown buildings are connected to the the City’s “chilled water loop”. One of the existing chilling stations is at 5th & Sabine (that blue tile “box” connected to the ACVB parking garage).
-Jude
The Republic Square Park Makeover
Friends, it took a minute, but we’re finally just months away from the start of a momentous project that promises to further ratchet up the quality of life here in Downtown Austin.
After nearly two decades of fitful effort and planning, work is set to start this June on tremendous upgrades to Republic Square Park.
Situated on Guadalupe Street between 4th and 5th streets, you probably know it now as the place where all the buses stop, or the joint with the grass and the trees where you wait in long lines for the shuttle to ACL Fest, or the site with the weekly farmers’ market. By virtue of its central location, the park sees a ton of traffic each day, but its lack of amenities means that it doesn’t get a ton of use. Right now, Republic Square Park is essentially a verdant plaza of the largely lifeless Federal Courthouse directly to its west, and eye candy for Plaza Lofts to the east.
Millennium Rainey Apartments Wrap Up Construction
For the past couple of years the east side of Rainey Street’s [already limited] sidewalks were barricaded for the construction of the Millennium Rainey apartments.
Today, those barricades came down! Woo hoo!!! The Millennium Rainey adds 326 downtown apartments to the rental inventory.
Some of you will remember that The Sutton Company assembled several Rainey Street parcels back in 2012 and planned this three story tower. Then, they sold the assemblage to Dinerstein and the intertubes pitched a fit about Lustre Pearl moving.
Now, Lustre Pearl is back, Millennium Rainey is completed, Sutton is focused on Waller Park Place, and the Rainey neighborhood has better sidewalks.
-Jude
