As downtown Austin continues to grow and thrive, it gets harder and harder to find a parking spot. For city planners, there are two ways to view this phenomena: either as a problem or an opportunity. It is clear that parking is becoming a problem: the easier it is to park downtown, the more people…
Huge Downtown Site Slated for Development
Over the last few years, much of Austin’s downtown has been redeveloped — or planned for redevelopment. Whole Foods has transformed an area of car dealers and auto body shops. The second street district transformed a region of old warehouse and industrial buildings. Seaholm power plant has been decommissioned and is now slated for mixed…
Austin Real Estate Market Forcecast
Fortune and Economy.com just released 5-year real estate appreciation predictions for 54 major metropolitan areas. For the analysis, they looked at the likely price increase or decrease for a luxury home that would ell today for twice the local median price. Here is a summary of the results: 1 Cleveland 9.6% 2 Indianapolis 7.4% 3 Detroit…
After 3 Months, Monarch Converts Back to Apartments
In an embarrassing reversal, the Monarch Condominiums has decided to convert from a 100% condo project to a 100% rental project. This follows the projects switch from rental to condo just 3 months ago. At the time of the switch, the condo market was very strong and and the downtown rental market appeared unable to…
New Project: “Zilker Place Condos”
John Wooley, the founder of Schlotsky’s, this week announced plans for Zilker Place Condominiums, a new 74-unit condo development on a prime lot on Barton Springs road adjacent to Zilker Park. With quick access to the park and the hike and bike trail, three 5-story buildings will be constructed on a 2 acre lot that…
Density Bonuses: A New Urban Planning Model for Austin?
A movement is developing in Austin to link downtown zoning variances to “voluntary” contributions to community programs. While a density bonus sounds like a special gift to developers who meet the city’s stated goal of a dense vertical downtown, in reality, it is the opposite. Density bonuses essentially charge developers for variances — if they…