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Views From Austin’s Only 55th Floor: The Austonian

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Jude @ the Austonian (55th floor, southeast corner)

After several weeks of the weather foiling our plans, myself and KevinFromTexas at SkyscraperPage, were escorted to the 55th floor of the Austonian where we could take photos of the building’s city views (they kindly asked us to not take photos of the interiors until they were complete).  As has been common this season, a storm started rolling in as we were setting up, and the wind was a little too intense for this photographer’s novice hand to get the tripod to support itself.  I think we came through with some interesting perspectives.  If you’re interested in more photos of the Austonian, make sure to checkout SkyscraperPage’s Austonian Thread and Flickr.  Thanks to Cile, Sarah, and Trey at the Austonian for facilitating the tour!

You can see the 55th floor terraces here – this amazing photo is taken from the crane positioned high above the top of the building!

-Jude

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Austin Urban Vet Center

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The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) hosted its monthly happy hour at the Austin Urban Vet Center – a renovated 12,000 ft. building located at the corner of 5th Street and Rio Grande.  I was provided with a grand tour by Dr. Greg Biehle.  I’ve had pets most of my life and have visited many veterinary clinics.  The Austin Urban Vet Center is an amazing facility.  People should have it so good as what pets will experience here.  Each dog is provided its own room, complete with cushion, warm lighting, adjustable height bowls, and television.  Indeed, each room is equipped with a small flat screen TV tuned into Animal Planet.

This is much more than a vet, this is a resort for pets.  If you live with pets in downtown Austin, make a point to stop by and become familiar with all the Austin Urban Vet Center has to offer.

Downtown Austin Evening Views

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Last evening, we enjoyed the weather and the view from mezzanine deck at the Shore condos.  Nights like this are a great opportunity to appreciate downtown Austin, Texas – and practice with my new Nikon D40. 🙂

W Austin Residences City Views

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Photo by BOKA Powell

Austin’s W Hotel’s monolithic gray & glass facade is arguably the sleekest and sexiest of the luxury bunch.  DAB headed to the W Austin’s “topping off” party last night with hopes of snapping some view photos.  Unfortunately, by the time the fire marshal allowed guests into the structure the sun had already set.  Apologies for the dark photos, but you can still get a sense for the night time views from the 31st floor, including the new illumination on the Austonian.  A few other downtown pics included from earlier in the day.

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Austin Parks Foundation Gets Big Boost From Downtown Developer

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View from Spring condos #3802, 3bd/3ba

On March 3rd the developers of Spring Condos, a new downtown residential tower, will announce a $50,000 contribution to the Austin Parks Foundation. The contribution is based on a formula of $500 for each new Spring resident, and will target needed public improvements to the lower Shoal Creek Trail, which have been called for since the 1990s. When all the units at Spring are sold, the total contribution will top $100,000.

The developers will gather at the Shoal Creek pedestrian bridge to make the announcement with Mayor Lee Leffingwell, City Councilmember Chris Riley and numerous parks and downtown advocates. The Shoal Creek pedestrian bridge is one block west of 3rd and Nueces. The Spring residential tower will provide the visual backdrop.

The developers of Spring­–Diana Zuniga, Perry Lorenz, Larry Warshaw, and the late Hon. Robert Barnstone–set a standard for providing community benefits for downtown development during their zoning case several years ago. This led to a string of other developers offering similar benefits, leading to millions of dollars in pledges and contributions for parks and trails, new sidewalks, and affordable housing.

WHO: Mayor Lee Leffingwell, City Councilmember Chris Riley, Spring developers, Charlie McCabe of the Austin Parks Foundation, and representatives of the Trail Foundation, Downtown Austin Alliance, Austin Metro Trails & Greenways, and Original Austin Neighborhood Assn.

WHAT: Announcement of a $50,000 contribution to the Austin Parks Foundation for improvements to the Shoal Creek Trail.

WHERE: Shoal Creek pedestrian bridge, one block west of 3rd and Nueces. Spring residential tower will provide the visual backdrop.

WHEN: Noon Wednesday, March 3rd

Sabine On Fifth Auction Results

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UPDATE: As of 3/24/10 there are five units remaining at the Sabine.  Send me a message for availability.

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

In a packed house, over 200 registered bidders showed up for the auction of 31 units at the Sabine on Fifth condos.  31 29 buyers walked away very happy, as this was believed to be the last great buying opportunity for attainably priced downtown Austin new construction.  Where 27 units were originally intended to be auctioned, earlier in the week CWS (developer) decided to include three more, then in the final minutes of the auction they included another 1bd.

The building has 80 units total.  Once the 31 auction units close, there will be 13 new construction units remaining.  These will be sold through traditional channels.  36 units closed before the now settled lawsuit was filed in February of 2009.  During 2009, the 44 remaining units were taken off of the market due to litigation.  This auction marked the “re-debut” of the Sabine.

# of units offered = 31 (29 bids accepted as of 4pm Sunday)
Avg winning bid (inc. 4% prem.) = $228psf
Avg original asking price = $326psf
Avg discount from asking price = 30%

You’ll recall that the Brazos Place auction fetched an average of $281psf, and that was an avg 29% discount from original asking price.

-Jude

The Shore Condos Battle Developer AND Villas On Town Lake

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The rumble on Rainey Street… it’s a clash of the condos!

Like most condominiums, The Shore Condos are controlled by its home owners association (HOA).  Like several condominiums in downtown Austin, The Shore Condos are actually a sub-association of a more senior association.  In this case, The Shore Condos are the “residential unit” and one half of a master association called the Waterfront Master Condominium Association, Inc.   The other half is a “hotel unit” – ostensibly setup as the place holder for the Hotel Van Zandt (and may still be).

In 2005 High Street Rainey, LP purchased Lot 1, Red River Addition, from Sack Family Holding, Ltd (the “Waterfront Property”).  In 2006 High Street Rainey, LP created the Waterfront Master Condominium Association, Inc.  Prior to that, when the Villas On Town Lake’s land was originally deeded, the seller withheld a 50 x 50 right-of-way easement where Red River meets Davis St in order to provide access to the south of Davis Street in perpetuity.

In 2007 High Street Rainey LP + JMIR-Austin Hotel, LP + The Waterfront Master Condominium Association, Inc. sued the Villas On Town Lake Owners Association, Inc for encroaching on that easement.  Note that at this point in the story, the “residential unit”, aka the Shore Condominium HOA is not named in the lawsuit.  In fact, the “residential unit” wouldn’t learn about this lawsuit until recently.

As best as we can figure out, the Villas decided this easement could be used to locate a dumpster.  The developer of The Shore, who by right also has use of the 50 x 50 easement, removed the dumpster and the parties sued each other.  In 2008 the parties reach a written settlement agreement, but for reasons unknown this agreement wasn’t actually executed.  Earlier this month, the Villas filed a motion to enforce that settlement agreement.

Not so fast.

[youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZPRf8qL8h0]

The Shore Condominium HOA (“residential unit”) legally intervened by filing an objection to the Villas motion to enforce the settlement agreement, on the grounds that any settlement agreement would bind The Shore Condominium HOA to something they weren’t a party to.  So, the Shore HOA wants to put the kibosh on a settlement agreement that could adversely affect their interests.

B-b-b-but wait it gets worse!

The Shore Condos seem to be unclear about how, or if, they are would be bound by the settlement agreement.  The Shore Condominium HOA asserts in a legal filing that:

The Shore Association is not clear on how such terms [re: the settlement agreement] would impact its’ members regarding the easement contemplated.

To the best of our knowledge this is a Mexican standoff.  Since the original parties sued each other, it’s unlikely they will both simultaneously drop all of their claims.  The judge is unlikely to enforce a settlement agreement that would bind a party that was not originally part of that agreement.

Friggin’ dumpsters.

Downtown Austin Parks Becoming Enjoyable!

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What’s going on here?  It looks like normal everyday Austinites are sitting, relaxing, enjoying a coffee at Republic Square Park in downtown Austin.  Let’s hope this is a sign that our tax- and privately-funded parks will cease to be the exclusive domain of vagrancy.

City Will Use Eminent Domain To Acquire Important Waller Creek Land

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Back in November we reported on the City’s interest in an assemblage of lots at E 5th and Frontage Road.  Earlier this week, the ABJ reported the City approved the use of eminent domain should it be needed.  The land is required for staging the construction of the Waller Creek Tunnel.  This morning, according to the Statesman, the City decided to actually use its power to force the purchase of these “four lots along East Fifth Street for $928,416 for a flood-control tunnel project along Waller Creek.”