First, AquaTerra was cancelled. Then the Monarch converted from condos to rental units. 1155 Barton Springs was indefinitely postponed. Now, the Metropolitan has decided to throw in the towel and shut down prior to construction.
The Metropolitan was conceptualized as a $50m 8 floor condo project on 11th Street near the Capital. With units priced from $250k to $1 million, the 84 unit project was expected to be completed in 2010. Like many real estate developers, the team behind the Metropolitan was facing tough times and a tough market. In fact, the developer — Mote Group Real Estate Partners LLC — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy June 30. As a result, the land for the project will be point up for sale soon.
As the credit crunch continues, there is less margin of error for poorly conceived projects. While Austin has seen some big recent successes – tthe Shore and 360, both of which sold out before completion — other projects have struggled. As with other project cancellations — the market worked quite well: the project was unable to get enough interested buyers to secure funding, leading to cancellation prior to ground-breaking. Outside of collapsing markets like Miami and Las Vegas, it is very uncommon for projects to be cancelled once ground has been broken. With more than a dozen planned condo projects and an uncertain market, the Metropolitan won’t be the last cancellation. That said, the success of recent projects likely means that new buildings will continue to be announced.
