La Vista on Lavaca, an eight-story residential mixed-use tower consisting of 19 condominiums on the top four floors, a three-floor Executive Business Center, and first floor restaurant, is set to emerge from its construction freeze after months of inactivity. After running into financial problems, the project was halted during a rare mid-construction freeze. Typically, projects…
BartonPlace Construction Update
Austin Towers checked-in with BartonPlace this week and learned that construction continues to progress on schedule. BartonPlace is a 6-building, 6-story condo project with 270 total units located on Barton Springs Road near Zilker Park.As of this week, the developers have completed the garage structure, courtyard, and first floor of the two southernmost buildings. In mid-November,…
Massive 30-Acre Riverside Development to Proceed
Grayco partners of Houston has been assembling a mammoth parcel of land on Riverside drive — just East of I-35 — for a development that was originally planned to encompass 50 acres, as many as 2,150 apartments and condos, and as much as 450,000 square feet of commercial space. Despite the financial crisis which has…
Original Series on Downtown Austin TV
First there was Austin City Limits. Then came the Real World: Austin. Now there is DOWNTOWN (The all caps effect is actually part of the name).While not widely known, Austin public TV station KLRU produces a great original TV show on life in downtown Austin. The award-winning show, called “DOWNTOWN” promotes itself as covering diverse…
New York Times: Downtown Austin is Attractive Second Home Location
An article in yesterday’s New York Times analyzed downtown Austin as a second home location. The enthusiastic article shed light on an important trend in the downtown market: the popularity of downtown condos with out-of-town buyers looking for a weekend getaway. We have heard first-hand from many developers that affluent Houston and Dallas residents, especially…
September Update: Prices Hold Steady
The September MLS statistics on sales of existing single family homes are out and the news is about as good as can be expected. During the month, sales of existing homes fell by 8 percent while the median price stayed flat. Notably, prices are actually up approximately 10% from September of 2006. While the rest…