Tonight, as the lucky future owners of 430 condo units at the 360 celebrate, the building has come alive with a 44-story vertical line culminating in a lit tower that is now the tallest structure in downtown Austin.
With a waiting list of 215 units, a list equal to 50% of the actual units in the building, the 360 has been an amazing success. Novare, the developer, hit the perfect combination of early timing, a great location, and an affordably-priced units.
With a major project completed, and a long list of people waiting for affordable downtown housing, it’s a good time to take stock of other activity downtown:
– With their success with 360, Novare Group is on track for their next two towers — Block 51 & 52 — on the site of the downtown post office and an adjacent block on 5th street just North of Republic Square. These projects will add an amazing 900 condo units in 37 and 40 floor towers which should be completed by 2012. In fact construction will begin on the 37-floor tower in as little as 60 days. Novare is looking to repeat the model for 360 with a large number of affordably-priced units. However, with increases in downtown construction costs, the new Novare projects will inevitably be more expensive than the units in 360.
– The W Hotel & Residences, Four Seasons Residences, and Austonian — all luxury projects — are all proceeding quite well with construction as is the upscale Spring tower next to Whole Foods.
– The 34-story 7Rio Tower (AKA “CLB Unnamed” and “7th & Rio Grande” — this is the first time we’ve heard this name) has bee so quiet that we had assumed it was dead (we moved it to “Pending” many months ago). According to the developers, they are still hoping to move forward and are aiming for a ground-breaking in Fall of 2009.
– 1115 Barton Springs, which have also labeled pending, is 30% slowed and slowly moving towards the 50% mark at which point they hope to begin construction. A smaller project with very expensive units, this project may have a difficult time getting built.
– Work has been suspended at La Vista on Lavaca at 1701 Lavaca St. for unknown reasons but is supposedly set to resume soon.
– According to the Statesman, groundbreaking on The Park, an office/condominium project at 801 Barton Springs Road, has been postponed to late 2009 for zoning reasons.
– The city is moving forward with the development of Seaholm and the Green Water Treament Plant – projects which will add a large number of affordable downtown units.
