high res version.
-Jude
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There Are Downtown Austin Condos That Are FHA Approved
(UPDATED AS OF JANUARY 25TH 2013)
To qualify for an FHA loan in Travis County the purchase price of the residence must be under $288,750. For FHA loans, you only need at least 3.5% down payment. Consider downtown Austin condos like the Avenue Lofts or the the Shore Condos, two of the five downtown buildings that are FHA approved condos.
FHA approved downtown Austin condos:
- 360 Condos
- 904 West (expired as of 10/02/2012)
- Avenue Lofts (expired as of 10/02/2012)
- Posada Del Ray
- The Shore Condos
FHA approval has ZERO to do with the quality or desirability of a building. In fact, it is smart Home Owner’s Associations and developers that open up their projects to as many financing options as possible.
-Jude
Defining Austin's Urban Core
Maybe this is unique to my peers in the real estate world, but how often do you hear the term “urban core” as it relates to Austin? Some people just say “Central” Austin, but to many that doesn’t imply South Austin, or East Austin. Generally, when I write about the urban core of Austin this is the area I’m referring to.
For some of you this might be too narrow, but I suspect most of you will accuse me of drawing too broadly. Notice that UT is excluded as UT is always referred to as UT. Arguably, it’s one of the most urban areas of Austin – most university settings are dense, walkable, and active – but in my opinion it doesn’t compare well to the other neighborhoods due to the narrow demographics.
Oltorf is still a boundary to the south. Lamar is no longer a boundary to the west. To the north, MLK is a natural border between UT and downtown. To the east I’ve chosen Pedernales, but I could be convinced to include Pleasant Valley.
More importantly, what does it mean to be inside Austin’s urban core? Well, generally this is how I see it…
1) you can expect to find mixed-use development
2) you can find remnants of Austin’s history
3) you can find urban infill projects
4) decent transit (a generous term for Austin)
5) You could walk to downtown
6) There are no malls
Of course you could find some of the above items miles from downtown, but as a bundle of characteristics I think they work pretty well. Austin’s “urban core” is a nebulous term that is as flexible as it is convenient. This map shows what would have not only been the core, but most of the city at the turn of the century. The boundary will likely grow as our city matures. Let me know what you think.
-Jude
LiveMusicClips.com
Entrepreneur and downtown Austin resident Milan Malkani has launched LiveMusicClips.com. LiveMusicClips.com is a place for bands to promote their shows by publishing the what/when/where info of their upcoming gigs.
As Milan puts it “I can’t play an instrument and my vocals are painful to listen to, so I figured if I can’t be in my own band at least I can help others.” To help generate some momentum and spread the word they are giving away a pair of 3-day passes to ACL – check them out!
-Jude
Photo Of Waller Creek Flooding In 1935
Thanks to LoneStarMike at SkyscraperPage for finding this. What a great photo. It looks as if this photo was taken from the vantage point of where the Austin Convention Center is today. You can see the intersection of Red River and Cesar Chavez St (formerly and appropriately known as Water St, historical map). It’s striking to see a large house on the southeast corner where we now have a surface parking lot. It appears that gas cost $0.12 per gallon. And, what is the sign on the shed towards the right? Crazy.
You can see a BBQ joint on the left, but it doesn’t seem to be located where Iron Works BBQ is today. The structure in the photo looks like it is west of Waller Creek …interesting.
From the Weigl’s website… “Fortunat quickly filled the hole and the Weigl’ operation found a new home in 1935. Shortly after their opening, disaster struck. On June 5, 1935, one of the worst floods Austin has ever seen raged throughout the city. After the waters receded, the Weigls were forced to cut out pieces of floorboard to scrape massive amounts of mud into the basement.”
Click on the photo to enlarge.
-Jude
Round Up
As we’re traveling this week, below is what’s happening in downtown Austin.
1) ROMA’s density bonus proposal (a must read pdf) is getting lots of attention, especially the conversation surrounding the Warehouse District. Thanks to Miggy, M1EK, and Roger for the informed commentary.
Update: I encourage DAB readers take few minutes to familiarize themselves with ROMA’s proposal. Page 21 highlights gradually sloping height limits from neighborhood to core. The Warehouse District recommendations are a small component of a larger thought process. Equal attention could be paid to the 3:1 FAR recommendation for the Market District along Lamar. Philosophically, the entire proposal is still a “tax” on density in downtown Austin, which seems backwards to me.
2) The Austonian tops out. Did you know that you can now see the Austonian from four counties?
3) J Blacks’ menu gets some respect from Maggie’s Austin.
4) ThunderCloud will soon serve subs below 360.
Downtown Austin Blog Is Growing
I learned a new phrase a couple of weeks ago – “hyper-localized”. That’s a fitting description of the Downtown Austin Blog, which surpassed 100,000 hits over Labor Day weekend. Small potatoes for some websites, but this is a fun milestone for a local real estate centric blog like DAB. We’ve been averaging 14,000 page views per month and growing. August was our best month with over 18,000 page views!
Downtown Austin Blog is written by myself, an occasional guest contributor, and regular readers who contribute to the discussion – without many of whom the entire Austin blogosphere would be a lot less interesting. The positive feedback (and constructive criticism) we’ve received from our readers is appreciated more than you imagine.
One day we might decide to shift everything to DowntownAustinBlog.org, but for now please continue to encourage your friends and colleagues to “just google ‘Downtown Austin Blog'”.
Thanks,
Jude
What's Going To Happen To Little City?
According to TexasWeekly.com and the ABJ, the Texas Public Policy Foundation is under contract to purchase the building located at 916 Congress Ave, aka. Little City Cafe!!!
Little City is a long-established favorite of Congress Ave’s retail/cafe offerings. It’s loss would be frustrating news to those working to revitalize Congress Avenue [back] into a retail destination.
Hey TPPF, there are three empty buildings across the street – 907,909,911 Congress Ave – that are available.
-Jude
For Real This Time: The I-35 Makeover Is Happening
In 2006, neighborhood associations on both sides of the interstate were empowered to develop a concept to enhance East-West pedestrian movement beneath I-35. The vision was to take what is the most trafficked overpass in Austin, and create a landscape that is lighter and smaller in scale than the one currently dominated by the car.
The downtown Austin segment of I-35 was constructed in 1962 and served to physically reinforce the racial divide that East Avenue had historically represented.
Now, the City of Austin leases from the State the land below the I-35 freeway. The area is uninviting to say the least. As part of the makeover, that area will remain parking, while the perimeter and sidewalks connecting East Side to downtown will get something closer to the “Great Streets” treatment including trees, wider sidewalks, and benches.
From Cotera+Reed Architects:
“Fourteen curved and tapered galvanized steel poles will be supported under the freeway deck, and area lighting is attached along the undersides. Individually, the shape of the poles resembles a suspension bridge – re-associating the spot with connecting. Connecting land masses, across an interruption of the landscape, proposing the idea of separation and connecting at the same time. It is intended to be a gesture – a handshake under the freeway.”
Construction is scheduled to begin as early as February 2010.
-Jude
CITYSIT – An Interactive Urban Art Experience
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO7oo0O1JUU]
As I walked into my office this morning, I noticed in the retail shell space below the Monarch parking garage were several massive chunks of ice surrounding a circle of chairs. There were intermittent jars of water and candles sitting on the long stretch of windows.
As it turned out, this was an installation by CITYSIT.
You go in and sit for 20 minutes. No talking, just absorbing the sounds. Sitting still and shutting my brain off is not something that comes easily, but this was a very cool experience. You can check it out for yourself tonight at 7pm.
-Jude