High End Housing for UT students

A Developer from Tennessee who builds all over the United States for Campus housing and for student living has made it to Austin. EdR Collegiate Housing goals are to make upscale living and a lifestyle for UT Students. They are going above and beyond to fit with the loft like feeling. The high-rises they are building comes with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, and high end finishes.The current project they are working on is 2400 Nueces, that is planned to be finished by Fall of 2013. The city of Austin in 2004, signed a zoning law for the area called The University Neighborhood Overlay District, stating that developments around the inner and outer skirts of the UT area will be able to handle more high rises. They are planning to add this year alone 4 new buildings, adding up to 2000 new luxury apartments and easy accessibility to the students. The rental rates alone are targeted to students who are looking for this type of living, the studio units start at $1,000. The high rise type of living can be up to 16-20 floors, where this time last year, was one of the highest rates of students with a vast 52,000 people attending. The whole plan also adds parking, as well as street level future shopping, dining, and other places for businesses. The other amenities that will be a plus to the plan are top of the line pools, gym facilities, and a more secure access to your unit. The University of Texas wants the first year freshmen to live on campus and get the feel of the college living but the cost of student housing alone could be up to $16,000 a year. Where that also includes, sharing a bathroom, common area, and having multiple roommates, so this new type of living is definitely more appealing to students. This will also relieve some of the West Campus area living for other tenants that are not necessarily attending UT but wanting to live in the area. It also is said to lower the rent in that area since the high rise population will rise.
For more information please visit
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/adams/307c/westcampusoverlay.pdf
or
http://www.edrtrust.com/   &    http://www.2400nuecesapartments.com/index.php/prop/home

 The Austin housing market is thriving, the increase of population per month plus continued job growth is helping our resale market, we currently have 2.9 months of inventory. The Austin Board of Realtors has stated in recent articles, that the current amount of supply will not be able to sustain the influx of people to the area. The inventory is just at its lowest, although the market is actually strong it is a struggle to find any type of housing in the Austin “In June 2013, a total of 1,575 properties were leased in Austin, which is six percent less than June 2012. The median price for Austin-area leases was $1,450, which is four percent more than the same month of the prior year. In the first half of 2013, a total of 7,658 properties were leased in Austin, which is two percent more than 2012, and the median lease price was $1,400, or eight percent more than this time last year.” -ABOR. So for the next couple of quarters left in the year, we will see the value of homes for sale increase, and the number of people moving to the Austin still flowing. Even from 2012 to 2013 as shown in the picture above the increase in average sales price per home is around $90,000. That is astonishing and definitely proves that Austin is flourishing, thankfully the next couple of years will bring some new developments to hopefully even out the market for both buyers and sellers.

Dell, IBM, Apple, and Google, Some of the largest names in their industry, and where are they all located? Right here in Austin, Texas. The proclaimed city of the new generation, for jobs such as these sure has made the image of North for this City, just like Silicon Valley but without the fast paced, high volume status. Not to mention, Austin is now the new home to Google Fiber, the newest product that will change the future forever. Not only does this city have the future looking quite well, Silicon Hills was not only recognized by businesses, tech companies alike, this will most surely change the Convention Center, Airports, and south by southwest for the better. Dell is known for slogan “Happy people work better” what a fit for a city also known for its “weirdness” with its freedom to express and impress unique and different types of characters here in Austin. Companies that want good images, develop by good people, what other place could have better people than Austin people.

The well-known Lincoln Property Co. based out of Dallas, TX will soon be home to downtown Austin once again. As the skyline is already changing and growing, the proposed project starting in 2015 however nothing looks to have been filed with the city as of yet, it sure will be a great add on to the buildings in the Downtown area of Austin. The development is planned to be 179,000 square foot building, including a six level parking garage, at the southwest corner of West Fifth and Colorado Street the architect HKS INC is the brains to the operation, which has also been a part of the Frost Bank Tower and The Cowboys stadium, just to name a few.  With street accessibility of 6,000 square feet of retail space, making the property a nine story office building, the current residents of this land are local trailer food trucks that will need to relocate. The feel of downtown is vastly growing and developing every day in which Austin is fully equipped to gain.

Austin, Texas has won X Games!
ESPN announced today that out of 4 other major cities, it has finally chosen where it will host the 2014 XGames. The Circuit of the Americas is a perfect place for this type of event, with ample space, parking, and land for, all of the entertainment and excitement. This is going to be such a monumental event to plan and host. Austin has now been classified as one of the leading creative class cities fully equipped to serve travelers and residence. This being said, all cities in Texas in general are booming. From the job creations, land values, our main capital city has some of the best potential for new attractions. Being known as one of the fittest cities in the US, “Austin over the last several years has really become synonymous with supporting big events,” said Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president, ESPN programming and X Games.

“The music scene is fantastic. The night life is fantastic and definitely a young, active town.”  The XGames will be in its 12 year next year, with an estimated 100,000 people in the span of the four days.  The circuit of the America’s track is 3.4 miles long, with an outdoor music venue, 25 story observatory tower, and a 44,000 square foot event center. “We’re ecstatic to be selected and thrilled to help bring ESPN’s X Games to Austin,” Circuit Founding Partner Bobby Epstein said.  “The X Games is a remarkably cool event that perfectly fits Austin’s culture and our world-class sports and entertainment venue. We want to thank the Central Texas community and its leadership, the Austin Sports Commission and the local action sports community for getting behind us, as well as project lead Paul Thornton and the entire Circuit of The Americas team for the hard work that went into preparing and securing this bid. It’s been a wonderfully collaborative effort and a big win for Texas that will pay off for years to come in terms of the X Games economic benefit to our region.”

Who knows what the next big surprise for Austin is?!

In November, the fall of  2013, Austin will be home to a new Aquarium. Builders and developers, The Comino brothers have already started the process to bring something new and exciting to our city. For all ages and groups alike, this new and friendly environment will sure bring tourist and locals together. The Aquarium hopes to bring educational trips for students, expose children to a different type of community for growing and socializing, as well as expanding their horizons, they will also be installing a hands on tank for stingrays and other sea like creatures. It sure will be a positive thing for our beautiful city, for hot summers like this. It will be a great escape for summer 2014. Not to mention the Aquarium will also hold reptiles, exotic birds, fish from all over the world and bring in as many as 50,000 people a month. It will be great for birthdays, gatherings, and hopefully memories for Austinites alike. They will also be hiring up to 100 people starting as early as next month, from Marine Biologist, to Animal specialist. It will be an overall great addition to the Capital.

Rainey Street to change by next spring.

As we all know Austin is developing left and right, from the east to the west. There are so many different ways the profoundly different city is booming. If you didn’t already live in Austin would you want to? The answer is yes, and now the city plans to construct and build for the upcoming future residents who feel the same way. The only thing missing from this city is professional sports. But other than that this city has it all. Now as of next spring The Dinerstein Group will be adding a new high-rise located right in the heart of Rainey Street. Right now, known as Lustre Pearl, will be completely demolished by spring of 2014. Developers from Houston, Dinerstein Group have planned to build a luxury 50 story high-rise with 250 units. With the ground level of a restaurant totally an estimated 250,000 square feet for the whole production, from Rainey to Driskell Street. The image we all have now of Rainey Street will forever change after this development, but will the rest of Rainey Street change too? We shall see… The urbanized city will most definitely be a hit if it hasn’t already shown that.

Architect Sinclair Black’s model

If you’ve lived in Austin for the last five years, you obviously know how much the city has grown. From the skyline to the traffic, everyday people move to Austin in hopes of better living, lifestyle, or career. For the uniquely known Austin, the city is just overwhelmed with growth. This week the city council has voted into installing a new and improved way of living for I-35, east to west. The city strives for easier commute, development, and modifications that will change Austin forever. The already acclaimed urban boulevard is hoping to include attractions such as restaurants, museums, parks, and more. With a grand budget of $500 million, the city plans to build something known as a cut and cap underground tunnel like system. With that being said it will include an upper deck for the attractions, and below, an actual 8 lane highway system, going from 15th street to Lady Bird Lake. The architect Sinclair Black is the brains behind the whole operation, freeing up to 30 acres for the development that hopes to bring in up to 900 million dollars in profits.

Austin’s investor market has been on heating up for the past few years, with no visible end in sight. Since the beginning of 2011 it is believed that Austin’s rental rates will have increased a total over 8% by the end of 2013.

Vacancy rates are equally as mesmerizing for potential investors in Austin real estate. With projected vacancy rates of only 4% throughout the city, and only 3% in downtown Austin, it’s easy to see why investing now is a great idea. Rent in they highly populated downtown area is nearly twice that of the larger areas in the city.

The Austin real estate market in general has been performing well. According to the NAR, median single-family home prices sat just over $203,000 at the end of last year. The hot real estate site/app “Zillow” shows and indication of home prices here are down less than 3% from their peak. So investors, strike now while the iron is red hot!

To view the rest of the top 10 cities where rent will rise, please choose this link.