AUSTIN | The Independent | 690 FEET | 58 FLOORS | Complete

[Spaceman]

Originally Posted by austlar1

No, It's a nose and ear hair clipper.

LOL Good interpretation

[jngreenlee]

Originally Posted by hookem

For some reason I feel like playing a game of Jenga.

[ivanwolf]

[QUOTE=KevinFromTexas;6849518]I did read on Kevin Burn's Facebook page: "quite possibly the tallest in downtown Austin!"

Anyway, I took some screenshots of the model to post here.


http://www.rhodepartners.com/#profile


http://www.independentaustin.com/


http://www.independentaustin.com/

What I notice about these is that the built massing model seems to be different in each photo. In the top model the sections of the building are like 4 offset stacks. Where the middle pic is just two sections with one cut/indention in the middle. And the third one is almost like its thirds. So I hope the top 4 stack is the real deal as that's the coolest looking one. Also if you look behind them on the walls you will see the 4 stack off to the left of the image and the two large stack to the side of the head of the tall long hair guy. Seems to me they went through many choices of height and architecture choices.

[Spaceman]

With all of these residences being built DT are there going to be enough jobs DT to make this feasible. A friend in Atlanta told me that city leaders years ago moved all of the good jobs to the north of Atlanta to take advantage of available real estate. The workers stayed where they lived thus causing Atlanta's traffic nightmare created by long commutes to work. Thousands of people leaving DT Austin every morning would be a problem.

[ivanwolf]

Here is a look at the CVC for this area. The Independent looks like its quite clear of the CVCs

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Spaceman

With all of these residences being built DT are there going to be enough jobs DT to make this feasible...

"Feasible?" What will make a project like this feasible is the ability to make a return on investment, not the number of jobs downtown.

Furthermore, not everyone living downtown work on a daily basis. There are a lot of empty nesters, retirees, owners who's "second" homes are located downtown, employees of companies which have their workers telecommute, owners of home-based businesses, etc...

Another way to look at it...There are more people living in the Domain and Riata developments than there are "available" jobs within their respective areas.

Most people who live downtown do so because it is "downtown." And where they choose to live does not necessarily have any baring on the location of their workplaces.

[GoldenBoot]

I am interested in seeing how quickly units are reserved in this tower. Seaholm seems to have set a pretty high bar.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

"Feasible?" What will make a project like this feasible is the ability to make a return on investment, not the number of jobs downtown.

Furthermore, not everyone living downtown work on a daily basis. There are a lot of empty nesters, retirees, owners who's "second" homes are located downtown, employees of companies which have their workers telecommute, owners of home-based businesses, etc...

Another way to look at it...There are more people living in the Domain and Riata developments than there are "available" jobs within their respective areas.

Most people who live downtown do so because it is "downtown." And where they choose to live does not necessarily have any baring on the location of their workplaces.

'

Yep. I don't know anyone who works in the neighborhood they also live in.

My mom works 20 miles from where she lives - in Buda. My brother lives in far Southeast Austin and works in East Austin just across I-35 from downtown. My sister and her husband live in Del Valle and both work downtown. I've only worked in my neighborhood once, and that was 15 years ago.

The more - most important issue related to this, is that we need to work on affordability in downtown housing so that anyone works downtown can also live there if they want or need to. There are a lot of service industry jobs downtown that are populated by people who don't live downtown because they can't afford it. I would imagine some of them wouldn't mind living there to avoid the commute.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

'The more - most important issue related to this, is that we need to work on affordability in downtown housing so that anyone works downtown can also live there if they want or need to. There are a lot of service industry jobs downtown that are populated by people who don't live downtown because they can't afford it.

I remember awhile back there was an article in the Austin Business Journal when Trulia came out and said that Austin homes most overvalued in the U.S.

Today, there's another report in the ABJ. Basically, Fitch ratings is saying the same thing.

In its Sustainable Housing Home Price Report for the fourth quarter, FitchRatings — a financial information services company — concludes that Austin home prices are 20 percent overvalued, the highest in the nation. The ratings agency predicts a slightly downward trend in pricing in Austin, Houston and San Antonio in 2015.

That's city-wide, too - not just downtown.

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

I am interested in seeing how quickly units are reserved in this tower. Seaholm seems to have set a pretty high bar.

I think Seaholm set the bar pretty high because they were relatively affordable - at least compared to many of the existing condos downtown. I think the pricing for units at The Independent will likely be much higher - plus there's more units to sell - so yeah, it will be interesting to see how quickly their units are reserved compared to Seaholm.

[The ATX]

I wish we had a better view of the rendering on the wall between baldy and long hair.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by Hill Country

I wish we had a better view of the rendering on the wall between baldy and long hair.

That would be Brett Rhode and Kevin Burns.

[East7thStreet]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

I remember awhile back there was an article in the Austin Business Journal when Trulia came out and said that Austin homes most overvalued in the U.S.

Today, there's another report in the ABJ. Basically, Fitch ratings is saying the same thing.



That's city-wide, too - not just downtown.



I think Seaholm set the bar pretty high because they were relatively affordable - at least compared to many of the existing condos downtown. I think the pricing for units at The Independent will likely be much higher - plus there's more units to sell - so yeah, it will be interesting to see how quickly their units are reserved compared to Seaholm.

Price are getting out of control in Austin...so these reports make sense. However.....prices in just these last few months...WINTER (usually a down time in RE) have continued skyrocketing.

I did a search for houses in Austin under &150,000 this last weekend and there were only 33 TOTAL houses in the entire CITY. That is insane. I did the same search on Monday...only 23 left. 10 of those went under contract over the weekend.

Come spring time we should see the usual bump....so who knows the limit?

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Spaceman

With all of these residences being built DT are there going to be enough jobs DT to make this feasible. A friend in Atlanta told me that city leaders years ago moved all of the good jobs to the north of Atlanta to take advantage of available real estate. The workers stayed where they lived thus causing Atlanta's traffic nightmare created by long commutes to work. Thousands of people leaving DT Austin every morning would be a problem.

Commutes that are opposite most of the traffic flow, aka reverse commutes, produce less of a burden on the transportation system than a typical in-bound commute.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

Price are getting out of control in Austin...so these reports make sense. However.....prices in just these last few months...WINTER (usually a down time in RE) have continued skyrocketing.

I did a search for houses in Austin under &150,000 this last weekend and there were only 33 TOTAL houses in the entire CITY. That is insane. I did the same search on Monday...only 23 left. 10 of those went under contract over the weekend.

Come spring time we should see the usual bump....so who knows the limit?

It's even getting hard to find a decent new construction "starter home" within 25 miles of downtown that's 150K.

[the Genral]

My house in RR cost me 146K in '97 and has an appraised value now up to 225K. I couldn't afford to buy it in today's market. At this rate, I may not be able to afford the taxes I pay on it in the future. Still...I looked at some houses in upstate NY, and we are still cheaper by far, for now...

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by the Genral

My house in RR cost me 146K in '97 and has an appraised value now up to 225K. I couldn't afford to buy it in today's market. At this rate, I may not be able to afford the taxes I pay on it in the future. Still...I looked at some houses in upstate NY, and we are still cheaper by far, for now...

I got very lucky when I bought my new house in early 2009. It was the peak of the financial crises, and the prices had dropped to historical lows. Now the same new construction home in my subdivision with the same upgrades has almost doubled in value with about a 90% increase in price.

[The ATX]

Back on topic...The ABJ has an article about the Independent:

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...wn.html?page=3

[AusTxDevelopment]

Don't know how accurate this is but Austin Towers' website says the Independent condos are priced between $300,000 and $4,000,000+

http://austintowers.net/condos/independent/

[LoneStarMike]

^^I believe that is correct. Here is part of the source code for their website:

Price Minimum:
<select id="00N40000002h0SX" name="00N40000002h0SX">
<option value="$300,000">Under $300,000</option>
<option value="$550,000">$500,000</option>
<option value="$800,000">$750,000</option>
<option value="$1,000,000">$1,000,000</option>
</select>
</label></div>
<div><label for="00N40000002fGAH">
Price Maximum:
<select id="00N40000002fGAH" name="00N40000002fGAH">
<option value="$550,000">$500,000</option>
<option value="$800,000">$800,000</option>
<option value="$1,000,000">$1,000,000</option>
<option value="$1,500,000">$1,000,000</option>
<option value="$2,000,000">$2,000,000</option>
<option value="$2,500,000">$2,500,000</option>
<option value="$3,000,000">$3,000,000</option>
<option value="$3,500,000">$3,500,000</option>
<option value="$4,000,000">$4,000,000</option>

[Jdawgboy]

According to the article, this project isn't even a done deal and may not even happen in it's current form. It also mentions a list of benchmarks that have to be met and that construction is undetermined. That kinda makes me uneasy about this project especially with the new incoming council.

The agreement provides for different scenarios and options to delay construction, so it's not easy to determine exactly when Constructive Ventures must break ground on the project or forfeit its development opportunity.