Though you’ll find a lot more steel and concrete than wood these days in downtown’s newest towers, you might have heard something lately about the role of lumber prices in Austin’s “extraordinary” housing market, currently commanding the highest sales over asking price for new homes of any major city in the nation — in fact, it’s estimated that rising costs of lumber across the country…
South Congress Could Relax Its Obnoxious Residential Parking Rules
Nobody wants to talk about parking until they specifically can’t find any, and by now you might know our thoughts on the subject. There’s too much of it in the wrong places, it shouldn’t be free, and it’s bad for cities and architecture — not to mention the planet, but we’ll stay local — when our entire built environment prioritizes the movement…
Downtown’s Avenue Lofts Condos Hit the Market, With Redevelopment in Mind
The Avenue Lofts, a 38-unit downtown Austin condo community at 410 East Fifth Street, is being marketed for sale. According to a listing from commercial real estate investors CBRE, the owner’s association of the building has retained the firm as the property’s exclusive marketing agent, with a possible major tower redevelopment of the 0.81-acre property highlighted in marketing materials…
With Apartments on Deck, 1155 Barton Springs Shakes Off Years of Bad Luck
After more than 20 years of false starts, neighborhood opposition, and at least one bankruptcy, one of the longest-planned residential projects in Austin’s history is finally speeding toward a hard-earned finish at 1155 Barton Springs Road. Perched atop a picturesque hillside at the edge of the Bouldin Creek neighborhood with an impressive view of the downtown skyline just north…
A Hidden Railroad Relic Steams Toward Historic Status in Downtown Austin
In the shadow of the Independent, the downtown Austin condo tower taller than any other residential structure west of the Mississippi, you’ll find an unlikely relic of an unrecognizable past — the Third Street Railroad Trestle, an overgrown piece of vestigial infrastructure removed from the current context of its urban surroundings by nearly a century. Built over…
Talavera Lofts Brings High Design to Mixed-Income Renters in East Austin
Saltillo, East Austin’s most recent master-planned transit-oriented development by Endeavor Real Estate Group, transformed a 10-acre former rail yard into a mixed-use community of residential, office, and retail space a stone’s throw from the Plaza Saltillo MetroRail station — and the project is now rapidly approaching the one-year anniversary of its grand opening, despite the outbreak…