[JoninATX]

New apartment project joins Burnet Road renaissance

By Shonda Novak

Updated: 8:46 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012

Amid the region's apartment building boom, Ardent Residential has broken ground on Burnet Flats, a project that will bring 179 upscale apartments to an evolving stretch of Burnet Road in North Central Austin.

At 5453 Burnet, next to Karavel Shoes, Burnet Flats is Austin-based Ardent's second project along Burnet between 45th Street and RM 2222/Koenig Lane. Ardent also developed a 175-unit mixed-use project two blocks south that it sold to AMLI in December 2010.

Burnet Flats' first units are expected to be ready in late 2013, with the project due to wrap up in the second quarter of 2014. Market rates have not yet been set, said Brett Denton, co-founder and a principal in Ardent along with Art Carpenter. Some units will be leased to qualifying tenants at below-market rents. The project will also have about 3,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

"Like many urban corridors in Austin, Burnet Road is experiencing a transition with the development of new, denser projects to house Austin's growing population while still maintaining the local character of these important roads," Denton said. "A lot is happening in these three or four blocks. It's becoming a destination area."

Several new restaurants or bars are expected to join the lineup, including a Little Woodrow's and Pinthouse Pizza, which will open in the next month or two in a building at 4729 Burnet Road that once housed an appliance store.

http://www.statesman.com/business/re...e-2439568.html