Day 1, ATX--City Officials,Austonian, & Chestnut Commons

Chestnut Commons

The Austonian's view from the top to the south

Austin City Hall

We have completed Day 1 of our statewide journey, and boy has it been an interesting one. 9am-12pm, Austin City Hall Speakers: Fred Evans, Economic Development/Growth Director Chris Johnson, Head of Dev. Assistance Leon Barba, Asst. Director of Inspections Michael Knox, Downtown Economic Development Richard Morgan, Green/Sustainable Building Fred gave us insight into his past, is an architect by trade and has been working for the city for 20+ years. Spoke about the 2 TIF districts in downtown area, the one including the Seaholm plant being the larger of the two. City's CURE process envisions and implements the redevelopment of the lower southwest quadrant of downtown, and incorporated various public/private partnerships to enhance the area. City Hall building sits on 99 year ground lease, and is LEED Gold. Spoke about the "Triangle" development at intersection of Lamar & MLK Blvd, and mentioned that it was the most successful developments in the area in his opinion.

Chris Johnson, Manager of Development Assistance, touched base with us on how he envisioned his department being a "one stop shop," where all general/specific inquiries were answered to via an online or walk-in basis. There are an average of 500/day in todays market, and that number was even higher at the hight of the overbuilding. They meet with the common citizen in an informal or formal setting regarding their interest in developments, and provide guidance to those who have inherited valuable tracts of land they do not know what to do with. Formal meetings are scheduled with large corporations that show interest in Austin, and they follow a very standard protocol. The city ordinances and regulations can seem exuberant to the local and non-local eye, so they really strive to clarify a wide variety of topics.

Following Mr. Johnson, Leon Barba joined us to give us an brief overview of the Inspection process in Austin. As the Assistant Director of Inspections, he touched on topics relating to regulations and building codes, and how they are carried out and treated by the city. Due to the dense areas of population, accessibility is a very stringent requirement for developers and new projects they propose. The common problems like plumbing/framing violations during construction are just as predominant in Austin as any other city. With Austin being a pioneer in the green development movement, they have adopted a Geen Building Code that they enforce primarily through water quality control measures and preservation of trees.

Following Mr. Barba, Michael Knox (the head of the Downtown Economic Development team) joined us to discuss his experiences of over 22 years with the City of Austin. With perhaps the best work-life-play mix of any downtown in the country, his intentions are to drive the CBD's revival into the place where people want to live. Incentives have not been given through public-private partnerships, but the 6th Street fund is a great way for small businesses to obtain city bonded loans at extremely low interest rates with favorable terms.

To close out our experience at City Hall, Richard Morgan, the Green Building/Sustainability Manager of Austin came to speak to us about the Green Building Code and LEED. Being a pioneer in the movement, they created the Austin Energy Green Building Rating System before LEED, and have stuck to implementing the system due to its Austin-specific characteristics. The star rating system approximately works as follows: 2-3 stars=Silver LEED, 3-4=Gold LEED, 4-5=Platinum LEED. Their SMART program concentrates on residential development/re-development, and has been implemented for most of the multifamily projects in the last 10 years. Since the Green Building Code is specific to Austin, the rankings actually are skewed as most rankings place Austin 8th as "most green cities," primarily due to the differences in the rankings. With a variance discharge, Austin actually ranks in the top 3, according to Mr. Morgan.

1:15-4:00 pm, The Austonian & Chestnut Commons projects

The Premier condominium project the City of Austin has seen is currently being prepared for grand opening OC. Early June will mark the date of the first owner's move-in date, and will set the groundwork for more occupancy. The developer, Momark Development Co. has been credited for sourcing a 45% occupancy to date, and is working to increase absorption in the Austin CBD and is responding well to the first-of-it's-kind high-end luxury development in town. The equity arm of the team was the parent company conglomerate from Spain that had their vision set on the exclusive, high-end, and private luxury experience. The 50+ stories offered unrestricted views and sight lines of the City's Capitol and downtown, and has worked at accommodating everyone that is willing to spend $500-$1000psf at the development. The primary target market has been those that have settled in the riches of the surrounding Austin boroughs, and want to downsize to higher density/amenity projects like this one (that also offers a lap style pool, dog park, theatre room , etc) to be closer to the culture of Austin. Overall, the project has created the new standard of living in Austin.

We have to applause the hospitality of our tour guide/developer, he took his kind time to show us around on his birthday. The 64 unit affordable housing positioned project is situated on the east side of town where there is room for redevelopment due to the plighted nature of the areas. With a 50% capture rate, the 1000-2000 sf units sold fairly quickly, and have proved to be a hit amongst those interested in being close to downtown/campus and east Austin while getting the exclusivity of a suburban neighborhood.