Improvements Around Austin's Capitol

If you are traveling FOR THE NEXT 1, 060 CALENDAR DAYS near the Capitol and are planning on using North Congress, or 16th, 17th, 18th, streets between San Jacinto & Colorado, you may want to check your route. That area is going to be torn up due to construction of an eight block transformation of Austin’s Capitol Complex.

The city has launched and secured funding for Phase 1 of the Texas Capitol Complex Project , scheduled to be completed by June 2022. The 1-million-square-foot, $581 million Phase One of the Texas Capitol Complex project has two main parts to it: two new office buildings and a pedestrian mall that will replace a section of Congress Avenue and include five levels of underground parking. This pedestrian-friendly street will provide plenty of green space right in the middle of Congress and provide more tourism venues for the city to hold concerts, festivals and the like.

As for the two new office buildings, details are starting to emerge. One building will be located opposite from both the Bullock museum and Blanton Museum of Art. The 14-story, 603,000-square-foot building, to be named after George H. W. Bush, will take over the surface level parking lot at 1801 Congress Ave. The new state office building will include display and performance spaces, & a cafe and food service on the first floor. Pairing with the two museums, the Bush building’s first floor will create what the state calls the “Museum Plaza,” serving as a cultural gateway to the Capitol and connected to the Capitol via the pedestrian mall. The Texas Lottery Commission is the only tenant named for this building so far.

Just south at 1601 Congress Ave., a new, unnamed, 12-story, 416,000-square-foot office building will include a state childcare facility, along with other tenants who have yet to be named.

In addition to the above construction, a new 9-story Texas Health and Human Services Commission office building is being constructed at the corner of West Guadalupe and 46th Street. The building will be built with a 7-story parking garage and should open by May 2021. According to the state, this building should save taxpayers $7.4 million in lease expenses.

East Riverside Development

If you haven’t driven through East Riverside Drive in a while, you might be surprised by the rapidly changing development in the area.  Some support the expansion of business, art, and residential communities in the area, while others are opposed to gentrification and its impact on long-time homeowners. The City of Austin has partnered with UT to study the development of this area and its impact on current residents and have pledged to offer tax credits to affordable housing opportunities in the area.  However, at the same time, private land is being to sold to developers and the area is rapidly evolving.

Oracle’s forsight to build a South Shore Campus really kicked off a chain reaction of East Riverside development. Oracle opened a “South Shore” campus in 2018 and will double its size by the end of 2019. The Austin Business Journal quoted an Oracle executive saying, “The Lady Bird Lake campus will soon employ 3,000 people onsite and that the headcount could grow to 10,000 people as the company expands.”  Oracle landing here has since driven much of the development in the area.

Here are just a few of the projects that have recently been completed or are currently in development in the area:

www.berkadia.com

UNDER CONSTRUCTION (BLUE):

#54 Foremost-new apartment development

#55 The Elizabeth at Presidio-apartment development; rental units ranging from 504-1938 sq ft.

#57 IO at Tech Ridge- apartment complex

#58 Lenox Oaks- Mixed-use (residential and commercial) property

ALSO UNDER CONSTRUCTION: The Montopolis Recreation and Community Center (1200 Montopolis Drive) is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2020.  This building will be co-operated by Austin Parks &  Rec and the Austin Public Health Department.  It will provide over 33,000 sq feet of new space, including a commercial kitchen, gym, fitness room, computer lab, conference rooms, and classroom areas. 

Montopolis Recreation & Community Center

berkadia.com

PLANNED DEVELOPMENT (DARK BLUE):

#113 6507 Riverside—apartment complex

#114 Aspen Heights Riverside- 325-unit apartment complex

#115 The Mont-apartment complex

#116 The Riverside-apartment complex

#117 South Shore District Phase IV-322-unit apartment complex

#144-Cambrian East Riverside-65-unit multifamily mid-rise to be located at 1806 Clubview Avenue with a planned 55 units rated as affordable, or available to tenants earning less than 80 percent of the area’s median family income. Only 15 units are one-bedrooms, with the rest a mix of two, three, and four-bedrooms. The living spaces have a total area of 57,268 square feet, and the indoor common areas total 2,444 square feet.

#145 Tierra Skyline-apartment complex; affordable housing development

#146 Vi Collina-apartment complex; affordable housing development

berkadia.com

PROSPECTIVE CONSTRUCTION (BROWN):
#198 Broadstone Riverside-apartment complex

#199 Project Catalyst-97-acre “urban village” along the East Riverside corridor, a mixed-use project including 4,709 multifamily units, 600 hotel rooms, 4 million square feet of office space, 60,000 square feet of medical and dental office space, and 435,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

#200 Wickersham-apartment complex

#244 1600 Pleasant Valley-retail center property

#245 5700 East Riverside-retail center property

#246 The Point at Ben White-apartment complex with units ranging from 850-1185 sq ft

#247 Urban East-a mixed-used development with 100,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space.

This brief glimpse should tell investors and home owners alike that East Riverside and Montopolis are emerging areas to keep an eye on in the coming years. Let’s hope the city can continue to work with real estate developers and homeowners to create an East Austin anyone can live in and enjoy.

44 East

Artist’s rendering: 44eastaveaustin.com

More development is on its way to downtown Austin’s bustling Rainey Street District.

44 East is a new residential development located on East Avenue on the corner of Cummings Street, overlooking Lady Bird Lake. It is slated to be 51 stories and will rise approximately 545 feet tall. 322 residences will be for sale. Some smaller 1-2 bedroom residences will be available, all the way up to 4 bedroom residences with impressive penthouse views. The building will be constructed to take maximum advantage of the spectacular views up and down Lady Bird Lake and northwest toward downtown.

Approximately 3,000 square feet on the ground floor will also be available for retail/dining space. An on-location parking structure will include over 500 spaces for both tenants as well as some for the public.

44 East Avenue’s groundbreaking is planned for the spring of 2020 with delivery scheduled for fall of 2022.

Start planning your move to the Rainey district! Keep up to date on the latest 44 East News by clicking the link below.

Republic Square

When you stand in the middle of Republic Square (422 Guadalupe), you are standing on a rich piece of Austin’s history. Edwin Waller’s original design of Austin consisted of a grid with a central square (Capitol Square) and four smaller, secondary “public squares.” Republic square, previously called Hamilton square, was one of these four smaller secondary public squares, and the home of Austin’s “Auction Oaks.” In 1839, Austin’s original 306 lots were sold at auction under these historic trees. Afterwards, in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the park had strong associations with the Mexican-American community due to the concentration of Hispanic citizens that lived in the neighborhoods surrounding the square.

Later in the city’s history, Austin’s leaders saw very little use for maintaining these public squares as green spaces, and the city quickly found other ways to use these spaces for storage, garbage dumps, or other city services. Between 1950 and the early 1970s, Republic Square functioned as a parking lot.

In 1976, as a part of the U.S. Bicentennial celebration, Austin’s leaders began to focus on returning Republic Square back to its original purpose as a public green space. It was then given the name Republic Square in tribute to the Republic of Texas.

In more recent years, Republic Square has served as the first site of the city’s summer “Movies in the Park” series, and every Saturday is home to the Sustainable Food Center’s Downtown Farmers’ Market. The newly renovated square is a green space unlike any in Austin. Daily programming and featured events, modern amenities, beautiful art and a café make it a uniquely Austin experience.

Other development has begun in and around Republic Square as well. One of Austin’s best combination butcher shops & restaurants, Salt & Time, is opening a new cafe within downtown’s revamped Republic Square Park at 422 Guadalupe Street, opening sometime between late summer to early fall. The downtown outpost will serve sandwiches, salads, charcuterie, and more. There will be dedicated breakfast dishes, like bowls, sandwiches, and pastries. Drinks will include alcoholic options (a first for the park), like canned and kegged beer and wine, as well as coffee, juice, kombucha, and soda. The cafe will also feature future collaborations with vendors from the SFC Farmers Market Downtown, which takes place at the park every Saturday.

The Hotel ZaZa/Gables Republic Square tower at 401 Guadalupe Street is supposed to deliver sometime in 2019. This tower will be a mix of both a chic boutique apartment community and a renowned boutique hotel, allowing residents to experience the amenities of both, plus have easy accessibility to the entertainment and events at Republic Square. In addition to the Gables building, there is an assembly of vacant properties at the corner of Fifth and Lavaca Streets that will soon be coming down to make way for a 44-story Hanover Republic Square apartment tower, which would mean 310 more apartments, hundreds of parking spaces and possibly another new restaurant near Republic Square.

Although the square has seen many different seasons and years of history, the current revitalization and development of Republic Square means that the most promising years under Austin’s “Auction Oaks” are yet to come! Visit Republic Square for a Saturday Farmer’s Market or a Movie in the Park and take advantage of all this public square has to offer Austin residents.

Austin's "Second Downtown"--The Domain

The Domain: photo courtesy of domainofficesaustin.com

Twenty years ago, when the Endeavor group bought 304 acres in NW Austin, they were envisioning a 5-million-square-foot office space campus that would house the many tech companies that were flocking to Austin in the time of the tech boom. It was given the name “The Domain” to reflect the technology era and its founders’ vision for a tech-focused campus. The branding and plans were completed, and it all sounded perfect; what could go wrong? Answer: the tech bust hit, and across Austin, several million square feet of sublease space suddenly flooded the market.

It was time for developers to go back to the drawing board and get a little more creative with the plans at The Domain. Over the next few years, developers began working on the idea of a retail-driven project for the Domain. This was a part of town that was underserved in the area of retail development, so developers began asking, “Could this be the perfect spot for a sizable retail project?”

At first, finding tenants didn’t go very well. Original tenants such as Target and Crate & Barrel backed out. However, right when it appeared the project was still going nowhere, The Domain landed its first major tenant, and it was a good one: Neiman Marcus. Having such a distinguished “anchor tenant” as Neiman Marcus opened up the door for many others to come.

By March 2007, The Domain opened as one of the city’s signature retail centers, unequaled in its size, scope and tenant mix. Soon after, tech companies began to be drawn to the area, making the vision come full circle back to its original roots of office space that was anchored in the tech sector. The Domain’s 3.4 million square feet of office space is a 200 percent increase since 2010, plus it also has 3,700 apartment units and about 900 hotel rooms.

Due to its retail space, hotels, office space, restaurants, parks, entertainment district and free parking, The Domain today is an appealing alternative to Downtown, and has earned the title as Austin’s “Second Downtown.” Now, The Domain has been successful at providing the ‘live, work, play’ environment that many tech companies are seeking for their workers, drawing such giants as Facebook, VRBO, Indeed, and Amazon.

The latest projects in the works at the Domain are three high-rise buildings — two office towers and one residential — proposed in the South End District of the Domain. In combination, the three towers will have more than 1 million square feet of new space. The residential tower will have an average living space of 908 square feet for a total of 384,000 square feet in the building, and will be located adjacent to one of the Domain Office Towers.

So, if you haven’t checked out Austin’s “Second Downtown,” get over to The Domain for dinner, drinks, a movie, and perhaps a little shopping. Thank you, tech bust of the early 2000s. Because of you, The Domain is the fantastic multi-purpose development sight that it is today. Northwest Austin has never been better!