AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[crewer]

Was just doing a little checking on the Milago. Currently there are 27 units for sale in the building. That's roughly 11%, and probably not so unusual. However, of the 27, 17 have been reduced in price, and the time the units have been on the market range from 32 to 210 days. The most expensive one on the market is a 2/2 priced at $749,000 which has been on the market for 173 days and was reduced from the original asking price of $849,000.

5 Fifty Five currently has 15 of the 99 units on the market, days ranging from 26 to 345 days. 11 have been reduced in price, some modest reductions while others dropping over 100K.

[Saddle Man]

/\/\/\/\ I can see why. I live in that area of downtown, and it's just not as good as the west side of downtown. In ten years or so, with waller creek it will be different. But now, not as good.

[StoOgE]

675 is probably not the actual height of Staceys building.. but at 780 feet, that may be substantially higher than T Stacey was planning on going.. he may have been shooting for 720-750 thinking the Austonian would be right at 700..

[Dale]

QUESTION: Between the two competitors, is there a feeling that one project is more viable than the other ? The Austonian or Stacey ?

[DTAustin]

Originally Posted by pyropius

Is it "downtown" even though it's across the river?

Good point. South of the river is not considered downtown by the city. I don't know what rules apply in that case.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

They've been listing T. Stacy's tower at 675 feet for a while now. So it may not even crest 700 feet, unless they change their use, or unless they're holding out and trying to seem short and insignificant. Who knows? The start time for T. Stacy's tower is listed as being 2nd quarter of 2007.

I would seriously recommend that you, and everyone else, take the information "they" (the City of Austin's Economic Growth & Redevelopment Office) report with the proverbial grain of salt. It is not their job to report the exact specifics of each project, just the summaries provided by the developers and/or information taken from filed city documents. There are a number of errors and some misinformation in their listings.

For example:
--Is the Austonian 700' or 780'?
--Is 360 going to be 580' (as dictated in the City's listing) or 563' (as decreed by Andrews Urban's website?
--Is Spring 36 stories tall or, as the developers declare, a 41-story tower?
--Will the new ACL venue accommodate 1,000 spectators or will it be able to seat 2,000, as it was recently reported.
--Will Constellation’s Red River project comprise two, 30-story towers or just one, 27-story tower – referencing a recent quote in the AAS by Constellation’s president, Eugene Marchese.

…and the list of expamples go on-and-on…Nonetheless, it is a great source for keeping tabs on new developments in Austin, but not necessarily for precise specs...

Tom’s (Tom Stacy) Fifth & Congress tower, if built, will easily top 700’. The 675’ listed in the City’s Emerging Projects descriptions was taken from his (and Richard Suttle’s) presentations to the city. They both recognized that the tower “may be” 675’ tall. Also, remember the several articles in the statesman (and elsewhere) in which the tower was identified as being “at least 705’ in height?”

If a brief analysis were conducted using the structure’s renderings, one may discover that Fifth & Congress “should” tower 725’-750’ above Congress Avenue.

However, considering the fact that a site plan has yet to be filed with the city, a number of new condo and/or hotel developments have been announced in the past several months, as well as the need for more Class-A office space in the central core; I would expect the tower’s mixed-usage allocations to change – possibly altering the scale of the final product.

[Kropotkin]

I rode by the Spring site yesterday and there's no sign of anything about to happen there. The current structure has all its utilities connected, including the A/C units. There's stuff inside. Such things are usually taken care of many weeks before demolition.

I thought Spring was suppose to break ground a couple months ago?

[KevinFromTexas]

Thanks, Goldenboot. I thought of asking you first before bringing this to everyone's attention. Still it does show some idea of where this project could end up. Who knows.

[GoldenBoot]

No worries. I would LOVE to see a 780' tower in downtown Austin!! Hopefully, the rumors are true. Nevertheless, increasing the height of the building 80' could add $15-25 million to its overall price tag...

[Mopacs]

Here's a few random construction update pics from last night (4/12)...

Looking west down 4th Street, into the late afternoon sun (360 left, monarch right)



Post Office and 360 beyond



AMLI2 Exterior coming along





Monarch, rising above W 6th



More 360





Thats all for now...

[tildahat]

Originally Posted by crewer

I'm not surprised with the pricing. You might have noticed that the only housing in the Mueller project in the low to mid 100's were their "affordable" units which require special qualification. The rest of the housing is in line with Crestview.

I'm not surprised, just disappointed. I think at the time they first said 175k, that was in line with Crestview. Crestview is just the latest of the quasi-central neighborhoods to leap beyond the reach of middle class families, or at least middle class families without a chunk of appreciation from their last house to use to offset the price...

[JAM]

Originally Posted by crewer

Was just doing a little checking on the Milago. Currently there are 27 units for sale in the building. That's roughly 11%, and probably not so unusual. However, of the 27, 17 have been reduced in price, and the time the units have been on the market range from 32 to 210 days. The most expensive one on the market is a 2/2 priced at $749,000 which has been on the market for 173 days and was reduced from the original asking price of $849,000.

5 Fifty Five currently has 15 of the 99 units on the market, days ranging from 26 to 345 days. 11 have been reduced in price, some modest reductions while others dropping over 100K.

I think 10% is pretty average. Sounds like both units are at 11% for sale. Milago was a success in the Austin market -sold out before it was finished. The 11% currently for sale at Milago are investor owned units hoping to flip them for a profit. Not quite sure what Kirby is talking about, 555 is also on east side. Each condo has a distinct feel to it. 555 is very urban, while Milago is in a park setting.

[KevinFromTexas]

Nice pictures, Mopacs.

[Mopacs]

This is an intriguing and incredibly ambitious development...creating a "mini Hollywood", amid a dense, mixed-use neighborhood in the far eastern reaches of Austin. I wonder how much infrastructure is in place to support the development? Whether this comes to pass as originally intended is of course up the air, but this sure is innovative in concept. See article from this morning's Austin American-Statesman:

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/04/16/16studio.html

'Creative talent' will anchor $1.5 billion neighborhood

By Shonda Novak, M.B. Taboada
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, April 16, 2007









It sounds like a Hollywood fantasy: A big-time movie studio, capable of producing special-effects blockbusters. A 50,000-square-foot soundstage and recording studios. An outdoor amphitheater with seating for more than 70,000. Moviemakers and musicians rubbing shoulders at the same colossal production facility.

Villa Muse, a $1.5 billion mixed-use project to be announced today, would have it all, developers say. But will it really happen, especially when so many other plans for a big studio have cropped up in the past and come to naught? This time, developers promise, it's the real deal.
And if all goes as planned, Villa Muse would transform 681 acres in eastern Travis County, near the Texas 130 toll road about 10 miles south of Manor, into a small city 15 minutes from downtown Austin.

Developers said the completed project would provide jobs for 8,000 people and have about 8,500 residents. The residential neighborhoods would have several distinct styles, such as brownstones or Craftsman bungalows. And potential buyers would be told that their home could end up as part of a movie set, developers said.

The anchor would be the $125 million, 200-acre Villa Muse Studios, with facilities for film, television, advertising, music and video game makers, said JayPodolnick, a 25-year Austin music producer and engineer.
The studios would "address the needs of our thriving creative industries in Texas while attracting business that has been out of reach and forced to go elsewhere," Podolnick said.

The master-planned community would give Texas a "centralized location where creative talent can come together to cross-pollinate," Podolnick said.

Podolnick has a contract to buy the land from Carpenter & Associates, an Austin-based real estate development and investment firm whose president, Jim Carpenter, is a project partner. Carpenter's company also will oversee construction of roads, streets, utilities and drainage services for the development.

Villa Muse has an option on an adjoining 330 acres, which could bring the project to more than 1,000 acres, Carpenter said.
"You're literally creating a village, a city," he said.

Bob Hudgins, director of the Texas Film Commission, acknowledged that his office has a "very high" stack of plans to build big studios in Austin. But he and Carpenter said this project is different.
Previous plans lacked "the correct team of people and talent, and they didn't have the financial resources," Carpenter said. "Villa Muse has all of those, and they have the credibility I had not seen in other parties . . . to pull this whole thing off."

Some say it won't be easy.

Pete Dwyer, a developer in the Manor area, said that while he thinks Villa Muse is a great idea for Central Texas, "I wouldn't want to have to foot the bill."

Such endeavors "inevitably involve large sums of money," so much that "they end up needing to be talked about in the same breath with major public investment," Dwyer said.

But financing for the first phase of Villa Muse has been secured from unnamed private equity investors, Carpenter said. He declined to disclose the price of the land or discuss financing for subsequent phases.
Construction on the project's amphitheater could start in two months, Carpenter said, and be done by the end of 2008. A venue that size could have accommodated the Rolling Stones, who played at Zilker Park in October.

Currently, summer tours, such as Ozzfest and the Warped Tour, and stadium-filling concerts come no closer to Austin than the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Selma, outside San Antonio, partly because of the lack of a venue.

Charles Attal, a principal in C3, the new booking concern associated with his own Charles Attal Productions, thinks such venues can be pricey.
"I think we could get tours such as Ozzfest, but the whole amphitheater model is not really where the industry is headed right now," he said. "Something that large really needs to be a multiuse facility, with something like a sports team attached, to sustain the revenue to support the note."

Today's announcement follows Thursday's vote in the Texas House to provide state incentives for film and television production. Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, wrote the legislation, and a similar bill is pending in the Senate.

The aim is to help Texas compete with such moviemaking hot spots as Toronto, as well as with neighboring states. But the Villa Muse developers said their project does not hinge on possible Senate approval, and Villa Muse will not receive any of those possible funds.
However, the developers supported the bill, said Elizabeth Christian, Villa Muse's public relations consultant.

Texas has long lost money because of the lack of filming and producing facilities, Hudgins said. Austin Studios, the city's primary filmmaking site, is geared largely toward small, independent movies rather than the big-budget flicks that would be filmed at Villa Muse, he said.
"It's really going to make it easier to draw in the big projects," Hudgins said. "Right now, we can't handle the big shows. . . . We can't even chase after that work."

People will be living in the community within the next three years, and the project is expected to be completed in five to seven years, said Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, vice president of strategic development for Villa Muse.
Water will come from the Manville Water Supply Corp., Carpenter said, and Hornsby Bend Utility Co. will provide wastewater services.
As for the logistics of living in a place that doubles as a movie set, "anyone buying at Villa Muse would know what the deal was before ever purchasing a house," Christian said.

"After living in Los Angeles for many years in a neighborhood that was used frequently for movies, it is not a problem and, in fact, is fun," she said.

Dwyer, however, questioned whether people would want to live next to a "loud and noisy concert venue unless they're employed there, and then they could do the pub crawl home."
Christian said that the studio complex would buffer the amphitheater from the housing.

"The Hollywood Bowl is smack in the middle of Hollywood, and it is the coolest place to live, ever," she said. "Everybody wants to live near there."

[email protected]; 445-3856
[email protected]

Additional material from staff writer Joe Gross.

[tildahat]

Originally Posted by Mopacs

This is an intriguing and incredibly ambitious development...creating a "mini Hollywood", amid a dense, mixed-use neighborhood in the far eastern reaches of Austin. I wonder how much infrastructure is in place to support the development? Whether this comes to pass as originally intended is of course up the air, but this sure is innovative in concept. See article from this morning's Austin

Looks interesting. I do find this idea that we are going to be able to build dense walkable communities along sh130 to be odd, though. I like the idea of building transit villages, but replacing transit with a toll road? Obviously better than more sprawlville, but are there plans to add transit? I really don't understand a city that spends as much time patting itself on its back for being "green" and "progressive" having such an allergy to rail.

Sorry off-topic. The mini-Hollywood aspect looks cool.

[sakyle04]

"The Hollywood Bowl is smack in the middle of Hollywood, and it is the coolest place to live, ever," she said. "Everybody wants to live near there."

Umm, ya. It is in the middle of Hollywood.

This is in the middle of a pasture.

I hope they go forward, simply because the "studio" portion will likely be very successful (and very cool). Trying to get residents out there, though... Well, maybe eventually.

[Jdawgboy]

What I like about this project is the the amphitheater with capacity of 70,000. For years I have always thought Austin has been missing out on so many major concerts because we do not have a venue large enough. Austin has some small venues but nothing in that range even with the Frank Ewin Center. It would give Austin a chance to compete with Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio to attract huge concert events that usually pass Austin up. I hope this really happens.

[KevinFromTexas]

Interesting. With all the buzz Austin has with Hollywood and actors living here, I can't believe we don't have something bigger already. It's about time we get something like this, I really hope it happens. That looks more like Univeral Studio's backlot than anything to me.

Coincidently one of my brother and sister-in-law's friends actually had a scene in Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse which was shot at the Texas Chilli Parlour in downtown Austin. She had a scene with Kurt Russell and of course met Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. My brother and his wife know the coolest people. They also have a friend who's interning in Minneapolis right now in theatre and is actually working with none other than Ian McKellan. So with that kind of talent floating around Austin we need something like this.

[Strayone]

I have been following the 360 Novare's camera almost daily. They are on the 16th floor from what I can tell. The building grows about 1 floor every week at this point. The 17th floor is the terrace level and from that level the structure is significantly narrower, 1/2 the width of the lower 17 floors. My question is, will this impact how fast the upper levels will rise? Or will it take more time than it has due to difficulties that occur the higher a building rises.

The 360 site shows all the floorplans in an array of levels, if you scroll over the floorplans on any level it shows if the units are sold out. It looks like many of the corner units are no longer available, but alot of the smaller middle units are available. Recently someone posted that the building was 85% sold out. It sure looks like more than 15% are available from what their site would indicate. Is there something that I'm missing in the equation? I would be surprised if they allready sold 85% of the units at this time since it won't even be ready until late next year. Just wondering.

[Jdawgboy]

They had a report on KVUE mentioning that the soundstage would be the largest in North America wich will be part of the first phase and that is expected to be complete by the end of next year so it looks like a pretty sure thing.