AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II - Page 243

Aiphanes · #**4841** Posted **Mar 23, 2009, 6:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by StoOgE

I have a feeling downtown residential building is going to go on hold for a while even after the economy recovers. A *ton* of units are being built right now, and I can't imagine they are selling like gangbusters.

Yeah i am ready for them to start doing massive discounts...It would be nice to get something on the 40th floor of the Austonian! LOL

Right now you can get a nice highrise condo in miami for less than $200k...

priller · #**4842** Posted **Mar 23, 2009, 6:56 PM**

We don't have to rely on our feelings about the state of the downtown condo market. We have numbers!

In 2008 there were 776 units completed and made available. 670 of those sold.

Right now about 790 units are under construction and 350 of those are under contract.

That leaves 546 units left to sell over the next 3 or 4 years, with no more units projected to be done in that time. That's really not much at all, considering that about 25,000 houses are sold each year in the Austin metro area. And also consider that Austin is growing at the rate of 60K people a year.

If anything, I predict there will be a shortage of condos in 4 years.

Source for above numbers:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/issue/story?oid=oid:754273

jeremyz · #**4843** Posted **Mar 24, 2009, 4:02 AM**

The developers in Miami must be losing a crazy amount of money per unit if you can buy a nice highrise unit for $200k (which I don't doubt). I went to an Austin downtown plan meeting about 1.5 years ago. Part of it revolved around affordable housing in downtown. The discussion about affordable highrises basically concluded it was not feasible. The rough numbers that I remember were $200/ft^2 construction cost for an empty shell condo (much less than the $800/ft^2 a friend of mine paid in Moscow for an empty shell last year) and $15k per parking space. They said an affordable unit should be 1000 ft^2 with 2 parking spaces and moderate finish quality. That worked out to 1000 ft^2 * ($200 shell + $50 finish)/ft^2 + 2 * $15k parking spaces = $280k cost. The affordable target they had was something like $150k, so it would have required a subsidy on the order of $130k to make the units affordable. It seemed to me like a possible solution was to force developers to make a certain number of less desirable 600 ft^2 units with no parking spaces for $150k (at least enough to meet the demand for such units). The city's conclusion was that 4 or 5 story wood construction was more amenable to affordable housing units with its much lower construction cost.

I guess this is why Miami condo's are so cheap
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=754273
"One project alone in downtown Miami is larger than the entire number of units being delivered in Downtown Austin over a six-year period," Burns pointed out. By his calculations, Miami is building one condo for every 40 residents; Austin is building one new condo downtown for every 1,022 residents.

M1EK · #**4844** Posted **Mar 24, 2009, 1:25 PM**

The affordability assumptions still betray a suburban mindset.

1. The whole point of living downtown is to not have to have as many cars - so a 2 bedroom should maybe, at MOST, assume 1 parking space.

2. 1000 sqft is 250 sqft less than my house, for a family of 4, soon to be 5. The condo we lived in when we were just a family of 3 was comfortably large at 1080 sqft.

Scottolini · #**4845** Posted **Mar 24, 2009, 5:53 PM**

I really don't understand the mindset in which it's deemed necessary to have such huge dwellings. My son and I live in a 2/2 980 sq. foot apartment, and we have plenty of space. I do believe that 980 sq./ft. even includes our balcony.

KevinFromTexas · #**4846** Posted **Mar 24, 2009, 6:45 PM**

My brother was saying a co-worker of his knows a friend who somehow got into a deal where they're living in Legacy and are only paying half of the lease. The regular price is $4,800 a month, but the guy who had entered the contract ended up not being able to pay it all every month. So he found someone to pay the other half. The man has another place, I don't know if it was outside of Austin or not, but he found someone to pay the other half. So this one lucky guy is paying just $2,200 a month for a $4,800 a month apartment and gets to live there by himself. Anyway, my brother said he saw some pictures of the inside and commented on how small it was. He didn't say how many square feet. I don't get it either how people always want something big. Who the hell wants to clean up 2,000 square feet of space? Maybe I'm just lazy, but it seems like too much work. Not to mention the heating and cooling bills for a larger space. I would rather have a uniquely and intelligently designed space that utilized the square footage in a way that really made it useful, than to have just a huge space with lots of rooms and maybe a stupid floorplan.

StoOgE · #**4847** Posted **Mar 25, 2009, 1:25 PM**

Yeah, I live in about 700 sq ft 1/1.

It's just me and the dog, but I don't see why I need any bigger. It gets semi cramped when I throw a party but that's about it (I limit my parties to 15 or so people).

1000 sq ft 2/2 seems huge. My parents have a 3000 sq ft house, and since I moved about almost 10 years ago they don't really even go upstairs very often.

Downtown_Austin · #**4848** Posted **Mar 25, 2009, 1:35 PM**

877/ft. Two people. Perfect.

KevinFromTexas · #**4849** Posted **Mar 25, 2009, 7:08 PM**

Most people really only live in 2 rooms anyway, their bedroom and living room. The other two important ones being the kitchen and bathroom. After that, unless you have more people with you, you're wasting space.

Northcrossed · #**4850** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 12:05 AM**

Looks like we're going to be stuck with our crappy, hideous, land-wasting downtown post office forever...which precludes a high-rise on that non-capitol-view-corridor block.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/03/23/daily36.html

"[The Postmaster General] also outlined several strategies that the Postal Service has come up with to help close the budget gap – a 'chasm, widening each day,' created by the agency's revenue shortfall.

These include:

[edit]

-- Halting construction of new postal facilities and directing funds to the sites with the most critical needs (i.e., buildings badly damaged or destroyed by natural disasters)."

Scottolini · #**4851** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 12:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Northcrossed

Looks like we're going to be stuck with our crappy, hideous, land-wasting downtown post office forever...which precludes a high-rise on that non-capitol-view-corridor block.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/03/23/daily36.html

"[The Postmaster General] also outlined several strategies that the Postal Service has come up with to help close the budget gap – a 'chasm, widening each day,' created by the agency's revenue shortfall.

These include:

[edit]

-- Halting construction of new postal facilities and directing funds to the sites with the most critical needs (i.e., buildings badly damaged or destroyed by natural disasters)."

Assuming that means the post office will not move, I will simply state that as much as people dislike the building it's better than the numerous surface parking lots scattered throughout downtown.

However, I have no doubt that the U.S. Postal Service would not hesitate moving to another location if the move was subsidized somehow. There have already been proposals for such an event, and while not guaranteed to occur, I believe if downtown Austin continues to grow another such proposal will arise.

priller · #**4852** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 2:47 AM**

From today, after the storm blew through.

They're really going to town on the W now. Over half the 2nd floor has platforms set up.

Scottolini · #**4853** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 3:23 AM**

Beautiful, Priller! Thank you so much for posting your photographs.

sashyenka · #**4854** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 3:32 AM**

Beautiful is right! I'm in Texas for spring break (flew into Austin) and can't wait to spend more time here, this city's great.

KevinFromTexas · #**4855** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 3:58 AM**

Great shots. That storm kicked some butt. Our lights went out for a second.

Mopacs · #**4856** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 3:59 AM**

all I can say is WOW! What a gorgeous set of pics. IT sure cleared up fast, didnt it?

BTW... did anyone get caught in the hail this afternoon? My yard was caked with it. I live in far NW Austin, so we took the brunt of it.

KevinFromTexas · #**4857** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 4:19 AM**

We didn't get any hail in South Austin. But it did pour here. Looking out our patio door, it was almost whited out it was raining so hard. I heard the conditions on I-35 were almost zero visibility because of it. I haven't seen it rain that hard in a long while.

jowens · #**4858** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 6:25 AM**

Very Very Nice Priller!

nixcity · #**4859** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 1:28 PM**

Great set of pics!!! Welcome to Austin Sashyenka, I'm sure you will love it seeing as how you are coming from Boulder. I think we share a lot in common with it, especially if it were located in the heart of Denver. Sure do wish we had your mountains though, it is amazing there. Love the avatar Kevin, your best one yet.

M1EK · #**4860** Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 2:05 PM**

Nice grab of the rainbow. I was driving to/from EZ's to pick up takeout with my 5-year-old at the same time you took that shot and we were trying to spot a rainbow but had no luck.