Two troubled downtown condo projects — Sabine & Star Riverside — have run into financial problems and been posted for foreclosure. The failure of these projects is a combination of market conditions and their own troubled history. The Sabine is a troubled 10-story office building conversion project at Sabine and West Fifth streets that was completed in 2007….
Analysis: Understanding The Density Decision
This is an important week for the future of downtown development. Over the last few years, the City has advocated dense downtown development as an alternative to suburban sprawl, traffic, and high infrastructure costs. On December 17, the Austin City Council is scheduled to vote on proposals to require developers to provide community benefits such…
Austin: #1 For Being Ranked on Lists
Austin is no longer a well-kept secret. It seems that hardly a week goes by where Austin does make a list of the top places to live or work or bike or to be indoors or to be outdoors or just about anything else that can be listed. So, thanks to Sam Thacker who created…
Austin Home Listings Slide by 20%
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the number of homes listed for sale has declined in many U.S. cities in November, reversing a strongly negative trend. In the 27 metropolitan areas covered in the ZipRealty survey, housing inventory dropped by an average of 28% over the last year and 2.4% during the last month. In…
$500B in Home Value Disappears
According to ZIllow , Total home values in the United States fell $489 billion in the first 11 months of 2009. A large drop, to be sure, but it marks a significant improvement from 2008, when homes lost a total of $3.6 trillion in values. In addition, about one-third of the markets we covered (48 of…
21c Austin: New Renderings Magically Appear
This week, it has been reported that the developers of 21c are coming back to Austin to provide an update on the status of the project. Apparently, the plans are now complete and they are ready to proceed with a third version of the project on a large site located at the intersection of Red…