AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by Echostatic

Can't say it's the best location in the city, but 308 affordable units is great! And it's not affordable the "10 units for 80% MFI" way, but the entire complex at 60% or less. This is a great little project that the city should be emulating in more places.

It's a hideous location for apartments, and, if the apartment complexes just to the east towards Cameron Road are any indication, this development will soon be in similar shape. The developer may have noble intentions, but there is no way to make that location desirable for residential purposes. Super busy freeway in front and skeevy apartments to the rear. Don't rely on the Google-mobile. Check out the street (Clayton) for yourself. It is pretty dicey, especially at night.

[enragedcamel]

Either way, it's a massive improvement over what is currently there, right?

Can't let perfect be enemy of good.

[H2O]

The affordable housing is very much needed, even if the location is less than ideal. These kinds of projects require heavy subsidies in the form of tax credits and gap financing from the City's affordable housing bonds among several other potential sources. Finding inexpensive land is part of the equation. There is only so much money available, and the projects have to be cost competitive to receive tax credits and other public funding. If the land basis is too high, the project will not happen. The key is to use the equity funds from Project Connect and other public sources to acquire well located properties (near transit, schools, parks and other every day essential amenities like groceries and health care and in opportunity areas) and leveraging existing publicly owned land.

The problem is that the State Constitution prohibits public entities from selling properties for less than market rate, even if it is for a public purpose. A possible solution would be to place the property into a permanent land trust (although even that transfer might need to be market-based) and doing long term ground leases to private affordable housing developers. A lease rebate could be part of a performance-based incentive as a component of the funding stack to make the land basis effectively zero.

Still, the need is much greater than the funds available, so every Affordable project built needs to be celebrated.

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

Either way, it's a massive improvement over what is currently there, right?

Can't let perfect be enemy of good.

Not sure I agree with that sentiment. I think this project is indicative of a callous disregard for folks who need affordable housing. The site might be put to better use as playing fields or a park for the residents packed into the apartments complexes towards Cameron Road, but the poor air quality and noise pollution make that use questionable as well. On the other hand, there is all that market rate housing along IH35 just north of St. David's, so what do I really know? You could not pay me enough money to live next to that stinking freeway.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Not sure I agree with that sentiment. I think this project is indicative of a callous disregard for folks who need affordable housing. The site might be put to better use as playing fields or a park for the residents packed into the apartments complexes towards Cameron Road, but the poor air quality and noise pollution make that use questionable as well. On the other hand, there is all that market rate housing along IH35 just north of St. David's, so what do I really know? You could not pay me enough money to live next to that stinking freeway.

I recall apartments in LA next to the 405 where most of the residents suffered from some kind of rare lung problem due to proximity to the constant exhaust.

[enragedcamel]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Not sure I agree with that sentiment. I think this project is indicative of a callous disregard for folks who need affordable housing. The site might be put to better use as playing fields or a park for the residents packed into the apartments complexes towards Cameron Road, but the poor air quality and noise pollution make that use questionable as well. On the other hand, there is all that market rate housing along IH35 just north of St. David's, so what do I really know? You could not pay me enough money to live next to that stinking freeway.

I mean, it's not like only affordable housing is being built next to the freeway. Go a few more miles closer to downtown and you'll see all kinds of really nice luxury towers overlooking it. So I'm not sure how it is "callous disregard" for folks who need affordable housing.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

I mean, it's not like only affordable housing is being built next to the freeway. Go a few more miles closer to downtown and you'll see all kinds of really nice luxury towers overlooking it. So I'm not sure how it is "callous disregard" for folks who need affordable housing.

For sure. Ultimately happy about this... Those apartments on the upper deck are wayyyyy closer than this will be.

[Echostatic]

"Luxury Housing"

[427MM]

Sad result of ongoing NIMBYism is we allow big amounts of housing far away from where ppl want to be and next to busy roads. It is then the most difficult to build where we have the best transit, best access to jobs/retail and is the most walkable. No rule kills more housing in Austin than Compatibility yet it lives on despite our housing crisis. Eventually City Hall takes the issue more seriously and ditches it and other exclusionary zoning but until then...

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by Echostatic

"Luxury Housing"

Every time I drive by these apartments I can't help wondering who in the 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 hell is willing to live there, especially paying a hefty price for the privilege. I can under stand possibly living high up over the freeway opposite downtown, but these units are right in the thick of all the noise, fumes, and traffic. I just don't get it.

[migol24]

Maybe they were thinking that they were going to bury I-35?

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by migol24

Maybe they were thinking that they were going to bury I-35?

I can't wait for that day to come.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Every time I drive by these apartments I can't help wondering who in the 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 hell is willing to live there, especially paying a hefty price for the privilege. I can under stand possibly living high up over the freeway opposite downtown, but these units are right in the thick of all the noise, fumes, and traffic. I just don't get it.

I'm sure nobody really WANTS to live there, but we are in a housing crisis and people will lease what is available to them at a certain price point and location. There is probably fairly high turnover as people find other options as their leases come up.

[AustinYIMBY]

Originally Posted by H2O

I'm sure nobody really WANTS to live there, but we are in a housing crisis and people will lease what is available to them at a certain price point and location. There is probably fairly high turnover as people find other options as their leases come up.

100%. And I feel like "luxury" description gets applied to just about every apartment building that gets built in the central core of the city, so I sure there are plenty of people there who would rather not pay for a "luxury" apartment but that is all that is available.

On a side note about the state of renting... I just heard a story of someone living in an apartment building downtown, and the owners started doing extremely disruptive work on the inside of the apartment with almost no notice. They came home one day and they were there doing work and all their stuff was shoved into a corner. When they complained, the complex made the "offer" of waiving the early contract termination fee. Which they took, but that just meant the complex could rent the apt out for 300 a month more sooner. It can feel so helpless being at the mercy of corporate landlords. But what a great time for those landlords to make record profits!

[Urbannizer]

Lake Austin H-E-B

[kingkirbythe....]

A Single Staircase Does the Trick at Downtown Austin’s Ashram Condos

https://austin.towers.net/a-single-staircase-does-the-trick-at-downtown-austins-ashram-condos/

A small six-unit condo project planned in a quiet corner of downtown’s west end could represent a subtle, but significant design milestone for Austin. Known as Ashram, the building now approved for construction at 707 West 14th Street by local developer Jay Reddy features a striking modern design from architecture studio McKinney York, with an open-air central stairwell as the focal point of the building from the street — and it’s worth paying close attention to those stairs, since this project is the first permitted under a 2021 adjustment to the city’s building code allowing the construction of three-story residential structures with only one stairway.

If that all sounds wrong to you, you’re not alone — conventional wisdom in architecture dictates that every multi-unit residential building rising several stories needs at least two exits, or means of egress, to comply with fire codes. But this isn’t really the case outside North America, with multifamily buildings rising eight floors or more with only a single interior staircase exceedingly common in European countries — and the fact that fire-related fatality rates in Europe are significantly lower than anywhere in the United States suggests that a combination of sprinkler systems, modern firefighting techniques, and structural materials chosen for passive fire protection make single-stair buildings a safe and desirable infill development option.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

A Single Staircase Does the Trick at Downtown Austin’s Ashram Condos

https://austin.towers.net/a-single-staircase-does-the-trick-at-downtown-austins-ashram-condos/

A small six-unit condo project planned in a quiet corner of downtown’s west end could represent a subtle, but significant design milestone for Austin. Known as Ashram, the building now approved for construction at 707 West 14th Street by local developer Jay Reddy features a striking modern design from architecture studio McKinney York, with an open-air central stairwell as the focal point of the building from the street — and it’s worth paying close attention to those stairs, since this project is the first permitted under a 2021 adjustment to the city’s building code allowing the construction of three-story residential structures with only one stairway.

If that all sounds wrong to you, you’re not alone — conventional wisdom in architecture dictates that every multi-unit residential building rising several stories needs at least two exits, or means of egress, to comply with fire codes. But this isn’t really the case outside North America, with multifamily buildings rising eight floors or more with only a single interior staircase exceedingly common in European countries — and the fact that fire-related fatality rates in Europe are significantly lower than anywhere in the United States suggests that a combination of sprinkler systems, modern firefighting techniques, and structural materials chosen for passive fire protection make single-stair buildings a safe and desirable infill development option.

I love this project, but I hate that we're acting like a 6-unit infill in a completely lifeless part of the city is so revolutionary. These should be going up everywhere.

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

I love this project, but I hate that we're acting like a 6-unit infill in a completely lifeless part of the city is so revolutionary. These should be going up everywhere.

You are correct.

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

I love this project, but I hate that we're acting like a 6-unit infill in a completely lifeless part of the city is so revolutionary. These should be going up everywhere.

Gotta start somewhere! Hopefully architects catch on quickly.

[H2O]

Unfortunately, there are very few lots with zoning that would allow this building type. It doesn't look like we are going to get any kind of meaningful zoning reform until after the November election. And then only if pro-housing candidates are elected for Mayor, District 5 and District 9.