AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[JoninATX]

Construction set to begin on second phase of Gables Park Plaza

ByShonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Published: 8:26 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011

Gables Residential says it plans to start construction Monday on the 18-story second phase of its Park Plaza apartment project downtown, with 222 units to be built just east of its eight-story, 290-apartment complex near North Lamar Boulevard and West Cesar Chavez Street.

The second phase of the project will also have 14,000 square feet of retail space, said Jennifer Wiebrand, development director with Gables in Austin. A projected cost was not available Thursday for the project, which is just west of the former Seaholm Power Plant. The project is expected to be completed by late 2013, Wiebrand said.

The new Gables phase comes amid a flurry of development in the Austin apartment market, which is the hottest part of the area's real estate sector.

Demand for apartments is healthy, experts say, but few new units are being added to the market, although 10,000 to 12,000 are in the planning pipeline.

Austin-area rents rose to an all-time high this year, and local real estate expert Charles Heimsath predicts that the Austin area will end 2011 with a 97 percent occupancy rate.

Wiebrand said the company has told residents in the existing complex not to be surprised if they see activity on the site Monday, when Gables plans a "soft start" on the second phase.

http://www.statesman.com/business/construction-set-to-begin-on-second-phase-of-2035043.html