Conventions are great for downtown Austin. They bring in people that fill local downtown restaurants, bars, and stores and they help local businesses thrive. They help keep downtown well-populated and busy, they create tons of downtown jobs, and their tax dollars help fund downtown improvements. With just a few thousand people currently living downtown, it’s…
City of Austin: Dowtown Vacation Rental Investigation Under Way
The vacation rental industry is growing rapidly. Increasingly, downtown Austin condo owners are listing their units on services such as Homeaway as opposed to offering units in the traditional long-term rental market. With rates of $1,000 – $2,000 per week, a few vacation renters can make a condo owner happy.But with short-term rentals come hotel…
The Next Wave of Rainey Street Development
The neighborhoods with the most character are often historic and central. For this reason, it was probably inevitable that the Historic Rainey Street neighborhood in the heart of downtown would become a very cool district of restaurant and bars. First came Lustre Pearl and Clive. Then, the G’ Raj Mahal Cafe. Now, three more houses…
BartonPlace: 57% Sold
We received an update from the head of sales at BartonPlace. According to the team, the 270 unit 6-story project is now 57% sold. This leaves 116 units left to sell.A couple of readers noticed that a small number of BartonPlace leases were hitting the MLS and asked whether these were being offered by the…
New Movie Theater to Open Downtown
One of the things that has been missing from downtown is a full-time first run movie theater. This is about to change in a big way.A new maquis will soon rise on Second Street between BoConcept and Malaga with 4 new theaters taking over the second floor of the AMLI 2 rental tower as well…
Strong Job Growth will Help Austin Real Estate Market
Job growth is a requirement for real estate appreciation in a normal market. While this still isn’t a normal market, the latest Central Texas employment numbers provide hope that normalcy may someday return.According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the Austin-San Marcos-Round Rock metropolitan area added 17,300 jobs over the last 12 month period. This 2.3…