Austin Projects & Construction

[crewer]

Originally Posted by Kropotkin

It'd be notable if Railyard sells, because, as a condo, I believe it will require 70% of the owners to agree. That rares happen. However, given the demand for density and right price, anything is possible. It's certainly a very desirable location for a high rise.

It rarely happens? Well don't forget, the Austin Convention Center's expansion leveled two blocks of the Railyard. I don't recall a problem getting people to sell back then. But then again, I'm not sure they had a choice.

Personally, I would have no problem seeing the rest of the Railyard go and replaced with something more pedestrian-friendly and that utilizes urban space more efficiently.

[DTAustin]

Originally Posted by crewer

It rarely happens? Well don't forget, the Austin Convention Center's expansion leveled two blocks of the Railyard. I don't recall a problem getting people to sell back then. But then again, I'm not sure they had a choice.

Personally, I would have no problem seeing the rest of the Railyard go and replaced with something more pedestrian-friendly and that utilizes urban space more efficiently.

The Railyard was an apartment complex with one owner when the two buildings where sold to / taken by the city for the Convention Center. The other two buildings were sold off as condos after that transaction. Thus it was an easy deal because the city only had to deal with one owner.

I also hear the Railyard is getting big make over in a few months - a totally new paint scheme other than pink. Although it is an old building, I think with 112 condos, it actually has better urban use than most other condo complexes downtown.

[JACKinBeantown]

Who's got new Austin pictures?

[TXLove]

Does anyone know when Altavista's crane will go up.....Seems as if it will be soon!!!!!

[crewer]

Originally Posted by DTAustin

The Railyard was an apartment complex with one owner when the two buildings where sold to / taken by the city for the Convention Center. The other two buildings were sold off as condos after that transaction. Thus it was an easy deal because the city only had to deal with one owner.

Thanks for the update. I think we were both right here. I found this article in the Austin Business Journal from April 1998.

A downtown Austin apartment complex is converting to condominiums as voters consider a proposal that includes acquiring two blocks of the development for a convention center expansion.

Brothers Property Management Corp. sent letters to residents at The Railyard this month announcing the planned conversion and offering incentives for tenants to sign purchase agreements before a grand opening May 2.

That same day, Austin voters will consider a proposal to spend $135 million, backed by revenue bonds based on hotel taxes, to expand the Austin Convention Center and build flood control mechanisms on nearby Waller Creek. The convention center expansion would require the city to acquire more than half of the 200-unit Railyard complex between Third and Fourth streets.

Converting to condominiums will also raise the value of the property, which will probably affect the price the City of Austin pays for some of the units if it acquires Railyard property for expansion of the convention center, says one market analyst.

"His timing is very interesting," says Charles Heimsath, president of Capitol Market Research. Heimsath says as condominiums, the properties will have a greater market price either to individual owners or the city."

There were probably no tenants in those condos at the time of the city's purchase, but I bet the owner pocketed a substantial increase in profits having converted it over to condos prior to the expansion.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by TXLove

Does anyone know when Altavista's crane will go up.....Seems as if it will be soon!!!!!

I believe the crane for Altavida should be up sometime this month. During the Austin forum meet we talked to a construction worker at the site who said that two cranes would be used at the site and that they should start work on them in January. We still have just less than half of January to go through, so time will tell.

Originally Posted by JackinNYC

Who's got new Austin pictures?

I have a few to post, nothing extensive. Next month I want to head back downtown for another round of pics. The weather has been cold and rainy and icy here the last week with even some snow. I'll have some pics of that soon, too.

[DTAustin]

Originally Posted by crewer

Thanks for the update. I think we were both right here. I found this article in the Austin Business Journal from April 1998.

A downtown Austin apartment complex is converting to condominiums as voters consider a proposal that includes acquiring two blocks of the development for a convention center expansion.

Brothers Property Management Corp. sent letters to residents at The Railyard this month announcing the planned conversion and offering incentives for tenants to sign purchase agreements before a grand opening May 2.

That same day, Austin voters will consider a proposal to spend $135 million, backed by revenue bonds based on hotel taxes, to expand the Austin Convention Center and build flood control mechanisms on nearby Waller Creek. The convention center expansion would require the city to acquire more than half of the 200-unit Railyard complex between Third and Fourth streets.

Converting to condominiums will also raise the value of the property, which will probably affect the price the City of Austin pays for some of the units if it acquires Railyard property for expansion of the convention center, says one market analyst.

"His timing is very interesting," says Charles Heimsath, president of Capitol Market Research. Heimsath says as condominiums, the properties will have a greater market price either to individual owners or the city."

There were probably no tenants in those condos at the time of the city's purchase, but I bet the owner pocketed a substantial increase in profits having converted it over to condos prior to the expansion.

I'm not sure about the exact timing, but I do know people who lived in the Railyard when it was apartments and who now live in it as condo owners. The apartment tenants were all paid about $5000 by the city break the lease. I guess that would imply that they were living in the apartments when the buildings were sold. One friend used the money as a down payment on a condo at the Railyard.

I think it is obvious why they were converted to condos. As your comment states, the overall value would increase which allowed the owner to get more money from the city. I also think it would have been less profitable to operate an apartment complex with only half the number of units.

An interesting note is that the condos originally sold for between about 70K for 600 sq ft. and 120K for 1800 sq. ft. in 1998/1999. According to MLS those same condos now go for about 2.5 times that amount. I doubt the newer condos being built downtown will provide that type of valuation growth over the same time period. A $400K condo will probably not cost $1 million in 8 years.

[StoOgE]

THe railyard isnt a great development, but it would be extremely hard to sell it.

I own a couple of smaller condos around town (I live in one, the other is rental) and one of them requires an 80% vote. The other is far too new of a complex for me to even worry about.. but one of my units actually had someone who wanted to buy it and was willing to pay about 150% of value.. it still failed to even get 50% of the vote, let alone 80. Some people just didnt want to move, and others thought they could get more money from the developer.

[crewer]

Originally Posted by DTAustin

...An interesting note is that the condos (Railyard) originally sold for between about 70K for 600 sq ft. and 120K for 1800 sq. ft. in 1998/1999. According to MLS those same condos now go for about 2.5 times that amount. I doubt the newer condos being built downtown will provide that type of valuation growth over the same time period. A $400K condo will probably not cost $1 million in 8 years.

Glad you mentioned this. I almost submitted a topic last night to get some dialogue going on where prices are projected to go for downtown housing. While visiting Austin several weeks ago, I spoke with a friend who was enthusiastically looking into purchasing one of the new units in either Spring or 360. He told me that a friend of his had purchased a condo in Milago and that it had doubled in value since purchasing it. I expressed doubt, but he was convinced. He spoke with the same excitement that I was hearing from people here in DC several years ago. Of course you should read what's happening now in DC in this New York Times article.

[LiveattheOasis]

Just a thought, but if Austin got an MLS team, where do you think the best place for a soccer stadium would be?

[DTAustin]

Originally Posted by crewer

Glad you mentioned this. I almost submitted a topic last night to get some dialogue going on where prices are projected to go for downtown housing. While visiting Austin several weeks ago, I spoke with a friend who was enthusiastically looking into purchasing one of the new units in either Spring or 360. He told me that a friend of his had purchased a condo in Milago and that it had doubled in value since purchasing it. I expressed doubt, but he was convinced. He spoke with the same excitement that I was hearing from people here in DC several years ago. Of course you should read what's happening now in DC in this New York Times article.

I think most people who bought at Milago paid in the range of $275 per sq ft. A few people who got in very early paid a lot less than that, but I don't know the price. I'll ask my friend who was one of the first buyers how much he paid.

If your friend talked to one of the very early buyers, I could see how that person could be sitting on $50-75K of equity based on the price the developer sold the remaining condos. I doubt that they doubled in value.

A quick look on MLS (Multiple Listing Service, not Major League Soccer ), shows a few condos for sale in the $370+ per sq ft. range. A lot of these condos have been on the market for a long time. A post a few months ago noted that there were over 40 Milago condos listed for sale.

The prices of the first two condos in MLS are $280,000 (756 sq ft) and $299,900 (756 sq ft). I think the price is different because of the floor level and view. For these condos to have doubled in value, the original price would have to have been about $150,000. I know for a fact they didn't sell for that low. If they did, they would have sold out in 24 hours.

I just don't see how a speculator can buy a condo at $275 per sq ft and expect to sell it a few months later for $375 per sq ft without adding any value to the property. Most of the people I know who have made money on flips have done a lot of work to the property to increase its perceived value.

360 and Spring will probably be very good properties to live in if you really want to live downtown. They will most likely increase in value over time, but not at rates seen over the past few years. A good indicator would be the newer condo developments built since 2000.

Tell your friend to look at Brazos Lofts, Avenue Lofts, and Plaza Lofts. They were the first phase of new condo development downtown. I doubt that they doubled in value. When I have time, I'll try to dig up information on this.

The only reason the Railyard has gone up so much is because you really can't touch anything downtown for less then $300,000 unless it is an older property. Most people can't afford to spend that much but still want to live downtown. You can buy into the Railyard for between $180,000 and $280,000. Not bad if you want to live in a good location in downtown Austin.

For the non-locals, if you want to look at the prices of downtown real estate, check out austinhomesearch.com and search on zip code 78701.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by LiveattheOasis

Just a thought, but if Austin got an MLS team, where do you think the best place for a soccer stadium would be?

somewhere near downtown.. near long center, or East of 35 perhaps?

[Strayone]

If an MLS team were bound for Austin? I'm not aware of the speculation, but I have been very surprised that a multi-use stadium/arena was never proposed for the old Mueller airport site. It would be centrally located and the whole city could get something from the land. The Icebats would especially benefit from some form of venue of this sort, they floundered the last few years at the Expo center, the local and other reasons led me and my friends to stop attending games and now it's surreal to see a game at Chaparral ice rink. And it would fill the needs that were missing that the Austin Music Hall-small, Erwin center- medium dont' supply ie. a large indoor/ outdoor concert venue. WT... even Cedar Park has been pushing for this sort of complex. I don't want to go to CP for a game or concert. Central location, access everything a person wants in entertainment. But I guess the costs and city leaders, populace agendas didn't have room for such discussion. It has been 8 years since ABIA opened and other than the Childrens hospital, a benefit to the whole city, I don't know of anything at the old site that has been truelly designated for the whole of Austins' populace on the property. Yeah the Austin Film thing is viable, but they could do that in awarehouse off of Burleson road. Not much else. OK The Roller Derby Girls thing, kinda cool. If I'm wrong tell me so but, as it stands I never see or hear of anything in the area that attracts people to what was a highly utilized space (an airport) that I thought would have far reaching useage when they opened discussion a decade or more ago. Sorry I may be ranting, but I hope they do justice to the cities people in the long run. The city did or does own that land, and it seemed obvious it would be an attractive area for many types of developement.I had a client who was involved in trying get a no-car community in the area. Forward thinking yes but at what cost. Hippies living in 300k smallish homes didn't seem like a logical direction. Not sure of other proposals with minimal citywide affect, but I'm sure there were plenty! Now I am very possibly ranting. So I'll bid you adieu. The Strayone

[WonderlandPark]

I have gone back a few pages on this thread, anyone do a photo update recently for those of us curious and far away?

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

I have gone back a few pages on this thread, anyone do a photo update recently for those of us curious and far away?

Actually I have a few updated shots of the 18-story AMLI II, 44-story 360 and 29-story Monarch residential towers. These were taken last Thursday evening (1/11), and look south from West 6th Street:

AMLI II close to topping out:





Early stages of 360:







Monarch apartment tower starting to emerge:

[Mopacs]

I found updated renderings and info on the "1108 Lavaca" office building, across from the Capitol complex. Looks to be around 8 stories tall (including parking garage). The building will also include ground-floor retail...something that is lacking in that area of downtown.

http://1108lavaca.com/buildinginfo.html





construction progress images - December 2006



November (small 4-story office building since demolished)

[KevinFromTexas]

Nice shots there, Mopacs. It's great to see those towers starting to emerge. And good news on the Texas Automobile Dealers Association bldg.

[LiveattheOasis]

Shouldn't Spring be getting started sometime soon?

[Kropotkin]

Originally Posted by LiveattheOasis

Shouldn't Spring be getting started sometime soon?

Last I heard a few months ago was ground breaking would be in February.

The market, to my astonishment, is still holding up-- so I'd guess it's still likely to happen.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by Kropotkin

The market, to my astonishment, is still holding up-- so I'd guess it's still likely to happen.

Actually Im not astonished at all that the market is holding up. Austin continues to be in a good position as far as the economy goes, and demand will be strong for downtown housing for a while longer.