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Dog Houses: Downtown Austin’s Top 3 Condos For Dog Lovers

AG | June 12, 2014 |

blog-looking-cuteEvery morning, when I am walking my little canine creature, Blog (pictured left) – I see many of my neighbors walking their dogs, too.  It’s part of the culture of Austin, a place where we celebrate dog friendly restaurants, and where dog owners create public outcry when the city makes changes to off-leash park space.

So, it should come as no surprise that most downtown Austin’s highrises are pet-friendly.  However, there are a couple of towers that go a little above and beyond when it comes to our four-legged friends.  Here are some of my favorite downtown condos for the dog lover.

The Austonian

We know, we know, the Austonian is pretty much great at everything.  This fabulous, well-located, luxury condo complex boasts several high-end amenities.  But, for the dog loving resident, the amenities for man’s best friend are pretty great.  They not only have an 600 sf outdoor dog park on their 10th floor, but an adjacent indoor dog grooming room – right on site!  Check out the pics below.

Section One of The Dog Run at The Austonian
Section Two of The Dog Run at The Austonian
Section Two (from another angle) of The Dog Run at The Austonian
Dog Grooming Room at The Austonian
Dog Grooming Room at The Austonian
Dog Grooming Room at The Austonian
Dog Grooming Room at The Austonian

The 360 Condos

Dog run at The 360
Dog run created from under-utilized space at the 360 condos

A signature building of downtown Austin’s renaissance, the 360 Condos is in the heart of downtown. While easily accessible to Shoal Creek, with 430 units served by 4 elevator bays, the wait for an elevator may at times make a harried pet owner a bit nervous.

The 360 condos HOA got creative and transformed some underutilized garage space on the 4th floor into a very nice dog run, open 24/7! Very helpful for a pet owner in a hurry or a pet with a late night emergency!

Bonus points to the 360 for having a Royal Blue Grocery on its ground level – makes buying healthy dog treats very convenient!


Tie: Milago Condos / Villas On Town Lake

The Rainey Street district condos have what few other downtown Austin condos have, which is direct access to a plethora of green space, and even better, the hike & bike trail.  And, with the new boardwalk opening, you can get more excited to head east for that lap around the lake with your beloved Fido.

Additionally, according to their newsletter, Milago also just recently added a special pet corridor on the northwest side of their building.

To a dog, there’s just no substitute for a walk outside, but be careful on the hot concrete in the summer.

The Villas’ “backyard”
Green space at the Mexican American Cultural Center
The entrance to Lady Bird Lake, easily accessible through the MACC public parking lot

The benefits of dedicated dog “runs” like the 360 condos and Austonian have is not only a positive for your pets, but also these amenities provide residents with a safe onsite place for owners to walk their dogs during the night hours.  They are also convenient alternatives to the dwindling places dog owners have around their neighborhood to take their dogs out when nature calls, and they also lessen the impact on our communal park spaces.

Is your building especially dog friendly? Let us know what makes it so!

-A

p.s. if you’re planning on getting a dog or pet you should absolutely first look to Austin Pets Alive.
p.p.s. And now, just because we can – some gifs of some happy dogs.

Filed Under: downtown austin

Storage Wars: Top Three Options For Condo Dwellers

Jude Galligan | January 13, 2014 |

I recently helped a couple downsize from a 3,000sf suburban home into a 1,000sf condo.  Getting this empty-nester couple to move would not have been possible without storage.  They purged a lot, but still ended up using all three of the options below.

Where space is scarce, storage is costly.  Prices for storage units have gone up in recent years.  A few times each year we see a storage unit come up for sale at the Shore Condos.  The last one was ~$7500.  Recently, I observed at 360 condos a storage unit trade for $15,000.  Storage units at the Austonian will trade for ~$20,000, on average.

Storage units in building
Cost: varies, $2,800 – 20,000 (rent $75 – 200+/month)

image-8Storage closets/units/lockers come in many shapes and sizes.  Most high-rise condos do not convey with a storage closet (some do, for example Bridges On The Park and Brazos Place). The ones that do don’t always have enough storage to meet demand.  Sometimes it’s just a fenced cage, other times it’s an actual closet with lockable door and electricity.

Unless a storage unit conveyed with the sale of the condo (a buyer can amortize the cost of the storage unit over the term of their mortgage) most transactions for building storage units are handled in cash.   The cash-only aftermarket can put storage units out of reach for some owners.  As you can see below there is a wide range of pricing.

Recent transactions:  (sizes are ballpark based on owner input)
*5 Fifty Five – 4’w x 7’d x 7’h = $2,800-4,000.
*Milago = $3,750

*The Shore – 4’w x 7’d x 8’h = $7,500
*360 Condos – 5’w x 7’d x 9’h = $15,000.

Public Storage
Cost: varies, ~$100+ per month

publicstorageMany downtown condo dwellers forget there is a Public Storage close by on W. 6th Street.  As of this post, these rentable storage lockers start at $122 per month, plus a $75 move in fee, for a 5’w x 10’d.

I try to avoid renting whenever possible – it’s a sunk cost, and you need to drive to get there.  However, when you’re downsizing and about to start moving, you just want an easy place to put stuff.  This is where Public Storage is really helpful.  Later you can transition into more permanent storage options once settled into your new digs.

USU “Urban Storage Unit”
Cost: fixed, $2000

USU

The USU is sturdy box that sits in front/above your parking space.  It maximizes space you are underutilizing.  We have two of these and they are perfect for golf clubs, ski/snowboard equipment, holiday stuff, tools, and generally bulky items we want convenient access to from our door.

We needed to persuade our HOA board to let us install the USU, but now more buildings and HOAs are approving them based on the convenience and value these bring to their residents.  You can see USUs in use at the Four Seasons, Spring Condos, W Hotel Residences, and the Shore Condos.

Hopefully, this will help those of you longing for some extra space. If you’ve seen more creative storage solutions, please make sure to share in the comments!

-Jude

[UPDATED:  Though we’ve not used SpareFoot, we wanted to give them shoutout.  SpareFoot is an online self-storage marketplace that allows storage seekers to search by price and area.  So, you can price shop storage facilities across Austin.  They are based in downtown Austin, too!]

Filed Under: downtown austin

Roundup: Cesar Chavez As Freeway, Future of Children’s Museum Site

Jude Galligan | July 18, 2013 |

No way, Cesar Chavez as a freeway?  Way.

The thinking back in the ’60s was that Cesar Chevez (née 1st Street, née Water Street) should be an expressway.

Check out this map making the rounds on Twitter, recently. Note that the red dash lines are planned expressway lanes, just like MoPac. (Keep in mind, the waterfront wasn’t what it is today, and Lake Lady Bird had only just formed after the completion of Longhorn Dam in 1960.

Office tower proposed at 5th & Colorado

The ABJ reports the surface-parking-lot-cum-mobile-food-vendor site is slated to be a 9 story office tower, being developed by Lincoln Properties.  What’s not clear is where the 6 stories of parking will go.  Is it a 15 story building?  Is parking below ground?  Nobody seems to know the height.

Plans murky for former Children’s Museum site

I posted recently about a zoning change filed on the block surrounding the 56-story Austonian skyscraper last week, where developers are seeking a change in zoning that would allow them to build taller.

[Read more…] about Roundup: Cesar Chavez As Freeway, Future of Children’s Museum Site

Filed Under: austin news, downtown austin

Downtown News & Rumor Roundup: More Height, Less Crime, Better Wayfinding

Jude Galligan | July 3, 2013 |

Downtown News & Rumor Roundup: New skyscraper planned?

As a sign of things to come, a zoning change was filed on the block surrounding the 56-story Austonian skyscraper last week seeking a change to allow for more density (read: taller).

According to the zoning request, the surface parking lot along with the land and building that house the Austin Children’s Museum, will be redeveloped as office/retail according to the ABJ.

You may recall, Austin-based World Class Capital Group bought the land in March. It’s too soon to tell whether there are any actual plans for the site, or if they are just seeking to make it sexier to resell. Or they could just be getting a last minute upzoning before the rules of the game change (see below).  Stay tuned.

[Read more…] about Downtown News & Rumor Roundup: More Height, Less Crime, Better Wayfinding

Filed Under: austin news, downtown austin

By The Numbers: Downtown’s Shrinking Inventory

Jude Galligan | June 9, 2013 |

The data supports what we all see – demand exceeds supply for downtown condos, especially dwellings priced under $500,000.  May was the first month ever that both the average and median price per foot for a downtown resale was over $400/ft.

At the extremes, asking prices for new construction high-luxury condos are approaching $1000 per foot, and there are several recently recorded transactions between $700-$800 per square foot.

Downtown condo inventory as of 6/7/2013

1) total resales available = 49
2) total new construction available = 77 est.

As of this post, there are only 13 units for sale under $500,000, and built within the past 15 years, in all of downtown Austin.  This leaves us with just over one month of inventory available for the largest segment of condo buyers in downtown’s core.

The lack of new product in the market is putting significant upward pricing pressure on resales.  With no new condo development planned in downtown, as interest rates remain low, resale prices will continue to rise to meet the demand.

DT Resale Chart - May TTM - MaxMin

You’ll recall that back in January, for the first time, the average sales price of a new construction downtown condo exceeded, $1,000,000.  There were 14 closings in May for new construction condos: the Austonian, W Hotel, and Four Seasons Residences.  Spring is sold out.  [UPDATE: The Four Seasons is sold out, with contracts pending.]  The W and Four Seasons could officially be sold out after another couple months of sales and pending contracts close.  The Austonian has a pretty good inventory remaining, but soon lacking any competition sales could accelerate quickly.

May 2013 Resale Statistics

- Total sales volume (resales only) =  $12,717,900
- # of resale transactions = 22
- avg price per foot = $453
- median price per foot = $424
- avg sales price = $578,086
- avg sales price to list price (SP/LP) = 97%
- avg condo size = 1275 sq. ft.
- avg price per bedroom = $343,727
- avg days on market (DOM) = 43 days

May 2013 New Construction Statistics

- # of new construction transactions = 14
- avg price per foot = $700-$800/ft est.
- Total new construction sales volume =  not reported

[table id=33 /]

DT Resale Chart - May TTM

Filed Under: Austin Real Estate Data & Statistics, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin

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