Austin Projects & Construction

[LookingUp]

Originally Posted by Atlriser

Howdy, you have an Atlantan here. Not sure why I started looking at the Austin site, but in regards to 360/Novare, it's financed and construction has definitely started. I won't pretend to know the Austin market, but Novare has built 6 towers in Atlanta in the past 3 years all in the price point and square footage of 360. Each sold out before opening. Currently, Novare has 4 towers under construction here in Atlanta varying from 29 floors to 39 floors. They are pushing higher with each announcement with 4 additional ones to be started before year end (ground work begun on 2 of these) approaching 60 stories with the last. As before not knowing Austin, but knowing Novare, they will finish 360 barring some major catastrophe. It will be a nice addition to your skyline. Here in Atlanta, we've already grown to where we complain about the redundancy in their design, but the buildings do end up being quite beautiful additions and are truly adding to the skylines of downtown, midtown and buckhead. Novare's latests proposals for Atlanta are beginning to respond to this design concern and they are adding taller designs that are more architectually significant than the current glass wall design of 360 with a spire. We have 6 such towers in Atlanta very similar to 360, but each is unique in color of glass and positioning of the spire(s) to make each a beautiful addition at night here. In Atlanta, they have also begun the development of premium (Novare's wording) condos. These being Gallery (27 stories) and The Atlantic (46 stories). Novare's also branched out to Charlotte (2 towers), Tampa (1) and Nashville (2) in the southeast with each project that is 90% complete being sold out. They are all at the same price points as Austin and Atlanta. I'd say Novare knows their markets currently. This might change with rising rates and so forth, but for now, they are definitely one of the top condo developers in the southeast as far as market prowess, location of buildings, teaming with local builders and developers, and understanding price points of their customers.

What about the fact that their typical condo units are really just simple "apartments?" Very small (by any standard) and very low-grade finishes. Do you think people in Austin will pay $400 PSF for non-luxury and very small apartments? Or are they smarter than that?