Downtown Austin Blog

downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog

You are here: Home / Home

Home

DAB STATS – August Residential Sales Summary

| |

Oh, August.  TGIF.  It’s been so friggin’ hot!

August and December seem to be the two months when real estate is not a priority for most families.  It’s vacation time.  Back-to-school time.  And, in Austin, Texas it’s violently hot.  So hot that downtown Austin’s walkability loses some of its romance.

In August we recorded 16 transactions, with the average sale price of a downtown Austin condo hovering around $298 per foot.  Once again, this is consistent with recent evidence that shows +/- $300 per foot seems to be a homeostatic equilibrium for downtown Austin.

Of the top-tier buildings, TCAD shows 11 7 closed units at the Austonian.  The W Hotel Residences are approaching completion.  The Four Seasons Residences TCAD entries have yet to be divided into individual records.  TCAD can take 30 days to update.

You can search for Austin condos and lofts using our map-based viewer.  Registered members of DAB can download a complete statistical and transaction report here.

-Jude

Downtown Gets Magical This Weekend

| |

For something very fresh and different this weekend to drown our mundane laborous lives, check out these cool events on tap ’round the hood:

The 1St Annual Austin Street Magic Festival TONIGHT, 6th & Red River next to Esther’s Follies (home of our own fantabulous, Ray Anderson), 6pm-2am and FREE!

And that’s just the warm up.

For you uber fans of fun and illusion, there’s an entire gathering of renown magicians from across the lands assembling all weekend at the Austin Convention Center. Details here:

Austin 2010 TAOM — that’s the Texas Association of Magicians.  Here is the TAOM Facebook page too.

Here’s a news story from News 8.

And also more info to be found on the pages of Austin corporate lawyer (but always a magician at heart — and skill), Hull Youngblood.  You can check him out — and be his friend — via the TAOM Facebook link above!

Much fun for all so make like a bunny and vanish your abode already!

Royal Blue Grocery Pushes Forward With 3rd Store

| |

Downtown Austin office and condo dwellers rejoice!  Royal Blue Grocery, our favorite local bodega grocer, is preparing for their third location: 609 Congress Ave.  Basically they are going to be a 100 feet north from 6th @ Congress Ave.   Announced in July, according to this ABJ article, the new location will offer: “… a full kitchen preparing in-house, grab-and-go foods as well as lunches from Meditrenean Chef, Rios Brazilian, TacoDeli, Upper Crust Bakery, Rock Star Bagels and East Side Pies. Stores also sell pastries, breakfast tacos, coffees, drinks and everyday grocery items.”

-Jude

Yes, it is.

| |

Is this the next bar on Rainey Street?

Yes, it is.  86 Rainey Street will become “The Blackheart” bar.  The above photo of their TABC permit application indicates a request for mixed beverage with late hour service.

There is already a facebook fan page that alludes to what we can expect: “think 1900’s Nola bordello.”  Note the comments about trees, arborists, and chainsaws.

The architecture will be handled by Dick Clark – which bodes well for the design.

Update: interestingly, just 30 minutes after this post went live, the owner of the Facebook page removed the inspired description of “Nola bordello” and all of the Facebook comments (including their fan’s discussion of chainsaws and arborists).  Hope that wasn’t because of us.  Easy fellas, we’re friendly here.  Just intrigued neighbors.  😉

A Taste Of Africa

| |

Soft opening this week, Cazamance, is an outdoor African fusion concept opening in the Rainey Street District.  Located on the northwest corner of Davis @ Rainey, and directly across from Clive Bar.  This takes the place of where Container Bar was planned to go.

Iba Thian, a famliar face at Clive Bar, is spearheading the project in cooperation with Bridget Dunlap and Scranton Twohey.

You should be able to stop by tomorrow to pick up a menu and try it out.  Just remember this only their soft opening.

Along with El Naranjo and G’raj Mahal, Rainey Street is starting to become a respectable destination for authentic cultural cuisine… al fresco style.

-Jude

Starr Building Renderings

| |

Two renderings of the Starr Building, re purposed to include a parking structure at 5th and Colorado.  A while back we showed you the history of this building before it was purchased by Kemp Properties.  Not much newsworthy here, but this is the first time I’ve seen the renderings.  At least the parking structure has retail underneath!

Downtown Austin Open Houses

| |

downtown Austin open house listings for August 28th & 29th
(Got the wrong week? Click here)

Saturday

  1. 904 West Ave, 904 West Condos, 1bd/1ba $193,300 1-3pm [Urbanspace]

Sunday

  1. 360 Nueces St, 360 Condos #1103, 1bd/1ba $262,900 11am-3pm [Keller Williams Realty]
  2. 54 Rainey St, Milago Condos #Ph05, 3bd/3ba $475,000 2-4pm [Urbanspace]
  3. 54 Rainey St, Milago Condos #Ph02, 2bd/3ba $899,900 2-4pm [Urbanspace]
  4. 510 W 18th, Chestnut Square Condos #113, 1bd/2ba $259,000 1-5pm [Capital City Sotheby’s Realty]
  5. 360 Nueces St, 360 Condos #3011, 2bd/2ba $575,000 1-3pm [Urbanspace]
  6. 904 West Ave, 904 West Condos, 1bd/1ba $193,300 1-3pm [Urbanspace]

Expand your home search using DAB’s map-based Austin Property Search

When you’re done with the open houses, you can enjoy an afternoon on Lady Bird Lake by renting a canoe or kayak from at the Texas Rowing Center. Or, dine al fresco at Annie’s Cafe on Congress Ave for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Make sure to checkout my transaction report from July and discuss with a Realtor who lives and works in downtown Austin.

-Jude

It’s About To Get Loud On Rainey Street

| |

The Rainey Street District is showing signs of maturation as stakeholders are coping with the growing pains that come with such rapid growth.  On August 19th, Bridget Dunlap, owner of the thriving Lustre Pearl bar, was approved for an Outdoor Music Venue permit (OMV).  The OMV permit (new window), expressly for “winter months,” allows the venue to host amplified music.

Rainey Street proper is zoned CBD, a flexible zoning definition that enables a multitude of uses for properties.  Little of the street’s CBD density entitlements are being used, as they are sitting idle waiting for big capital to return.  The district is currently dominated by bungalow homes, and flanked by mid- and high-rise residential condos.

It was late 2008, early 2009, when Lustre Pearl became the first bar to open on Rainey Street.  With smart design that preserved much of the historic bungalow aesthetic, Lustre Pearl seems to have set the trajectory for Rainey Street development over the next few years.  Clive Bar, G’raj Mahal, El Naranjo, are all thriving in addition to three more bars under construction.  According to Lustre Pearl’s General Manager, Scranton Twohey, Lustre Pearl is shifting to become more of a music-centric destination.

Dunlap and Twohey operate four venues: Lustre Pearl, Clive Bar, “96” (upcoming sports bar theme across from Lustre Pearl), and an upcoming outdoor/mobile concept on the corner of Rainey St and Davis St (where Container Bar was planned).

What is it about Rainey Street?

  1. Nearly 1,000 residences anchored by Rainey Street.
  2. Big capital dried up, so no more big CBD projects for the next few years.
  3. No commercial infrastructure, little parking, intermittent sidewalks
  4. A creative surplus of funky bungalow houses

During the requisite notification period the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) submitted a letter in opposition to Lustre Pearl’s OMV application.  The Downtown Austin Plan expressly calls for limiting the number of cocktail uses, and further encourages uses that complement the quiet neighborhood character of the district. (pdf)

Mr. Twohey made assurances to DANA’s Public Policy Committee about limiting the genres of music, hiring a sound mitigation consultant, and withholding applications for his company’s three other venues.  Despite those assurances, DANA and Rainey Street residents remained concerned that approving this Outdoor Music Venue permit will encourage more bars into the district, and those bars will also pursue Outdoor Music Venue permits.

The cost to apply for an Outdoor Music Venue permit is $50.

-Jude

NIMBY disclosure – I live at the Shore condos, which is one block from Rainey Street