Under The Crane and proposed buildings in Austin! Update!

[rosewood]

Spoken like a true blue government loving socialist.

[dfwcre8tive]

Magic Johnson, partners plan Austin complex
02:06 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Bloomberg
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/051007dnbusmagic.179ad8b.html

Former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson's firm Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund will join Stratus Properties to develop a $260 million entertainment and residential complex in Austin.

The 35-story project includes 200 condominiums, a 250-room W Hotel, restaurants and a new Austin City Limits television studio, Los Angeles-based Canyon-Johnson and Austin-based Stratus said Wednesday.

"They identified Austin as a market they wanted to invest in," Stratus chief executive officer Beau Armstrong said. "Austin's a small town, and we're a reasonably high-profile developer within Austin. This is a project that really fit what they're about."

The project, known as Block 21, is planned for land across the street from Austin City Hall and public plaza, which opened in 2004 and helped revive the area, Armstrong said. Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, a joint venture between Johnson and Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, specializes in the development of properties in underserved urban neighborhoods.

The project also will include the Austin Children's Museum Dell Discovery Center, an open-air public plaza, stores and a 2,200-seat live music venue. Singer-songwriter Willie Nelson and his nephew Freddy Fletcher are partners in the music venue. In 1974, Nelson recorded the first Austin City Limits performance. The show is now a staple on the Public Broadcasting Service.

Construction of Block 21 is scheduled to begin in September, and completion is planned for the first quarter of 2010, Armstrong said.

Canyon-Johnson will contribute $50 million in equity, Stratus will contribute $20 million, and debt will be used for the balance of the construction costs, Armstrong said.

[awill19]

Does anyone know what's going the UT Stadium expansion? pictures? stories? timetable?

[hvresident]

^Check out Texassports.com
http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/photoviewer/?photo_id=current#id=120806_2
http://www.texassports.com/webcam.html

[rantanamo]

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[dfwcre8tive]

Recent photos I took on a trip to Austin:

http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v107/107/66/146501028/n146501028_30271801_3977.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v107/107/66/146501028/n146501028_30271802_4286.jpg

[Lionel Hutz]

Austin skyline in 2010 (assuming all proposed towers are built):

http://www.austintowers.net/Austin_Downtown/files/Future_Downtown_Austin_Skyline.jpg

[I45Tex]

Any new signs that the TWELVE Domain tower in north Austin is on its way to breaking ground next spring?

[JDawgboyATX]

Hello Im fairly new on your forum. I wanted to clear some miss-info on some of these buildings. First off the Austonian will be 56 stories, not 55 stories. It will be 683 feet and has broken ground as of Friday Aug 31st.

The Spring tower broke ground about a month ago and will rise to 42 stories.

360 has recently made local history as it passed Frost Bank in the number of floors and is now I think on the 37th floor of the 44 story tower.

The Monarch Tower is nearly topped out and they are working on the penthouse floors and the main roof now. It has been listed as 29 stories but recently on their web site they stated 30 stories I think because of the two level penthouses at the top.

101 Colorado tower is 37 stories not 36 and we are finally seeing it rise out of its pit after a year since groundbreaking.

the Shore tower has topped out and they are finishing the exterior of the 22 story tower in the Waterfront district. We should be seeing a second crane tower in a few months next to the shore as they should be starting on the 29 story hotel soon.

The 31 story Legacy Tower is still in its early stages of construction but it should not be long before we see the crane rise up on the site.

As of right now we are waiting to hear new info on the 5th at Congress or T/Stacy tower. There is no official date for groundbreaking and latest word is that Tom Stacy and Associates have been re-working the ammount of residential and office space they want in the tower as there have been many new condo/appartment towers that have started construction since they first announced the project. We possibly may be seeing a re-design of the building as they will likely incorporate more office space rather than residential space.

C21 project is a 44 story 580 foot condo/museum that will rise on 3rd at Brazos just east of Congress Avenue and should really impact the skyline viewing from I-35 going through downtown. I believe groundbreaking for this project is right now set for Jan of 2008.

The Four Seasons Residency Tower which I am not sure exactly what the floor ammount will be due to recent articles stating it will be around 30 or 31 stories when we had heard 38 stories should break ground in the next 2 to 3 months though again i am not 100% sure.

CBL partners plans to break ground on a 32 story residential tower at 7th and Rio Grand right behind Katz's Deli within the next 3 months or so.

The W Hotel and residences will be 36 stories and they have started work on the sales office which will be right on site with the building. Construction should be within the next 2 to 3 months.

I think thats it for the major projects though there are several smaller projects that are happening which I am blurred about because of the shear ammount. As for the Twelve at the Domain I believe they will start construction on what I last heard will be a 28 story building sometime at the beginning of 2008.

[Tnekster]

I had a chance to pass through Austin this weekend and clicked a few pics of the construction progress. Downtown is looking great and there is so much activity. Here they are and include the skyline from the west, in the second pic there are two towers under construction. The one on the left is the Austonian which will be Austin's tallest tower when complete.

[AeroD]

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN CONDOMINIUM MARKET
Downtown Austin condo market slows down

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The downturn has hit downtown.

A global recession, shattered consumer confidence, frozen lending markets and stock market volatility have cooled the condominium boom that is reshaping Austin's skyline.

Developers of the sleek 360 condominium tower next to the Austin Music Hall have pushed back the timetable for starting another high-rise at West Sixth and Nueces streets.

"Any start is dependent on the capital markets next year," said Taylor Andrews, the local partner with Novare Group on the project, which would be a year into construction under the original schedule. Another tower, to replace the current post office, is several years away.

Sales at the four towers under construction — the Austonian, the Four Seasons Residences, Spring and W — have slowed to a crawl since the financial crisis exploded in August, although developers all say they have contracts for 45 percent or more of their units.

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/11/26/1126condos.html

[AeroD]

Wall Street Journal

December 23, 2008

Bigger in Texas? Capital's Real-Estate Glut Counts

By MAURA WEBBER SADOVI

A construction binge has left the office and apartment sectors in the Austin, Texas, area bloated.

About 8,900 new rental-apartment units are to be completed this year in the Austin metro area, the third-highest volume of the country's 54 major metropolitan markets, according the Property & Portfolio Research Inc., a Boston-based real-estate research firm. New deliveries are expected to drop off only slightly next year in Austin.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123007459797231493.html

[NThomas]

Stratus says it may be forced to stop work on W project
Austin Business Journal
August 10, 2009
Full Article (http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/08/10/daily3.html)

Stratus Properties Inc. said Monday it's urgently looking to secure new financing for its W Austin Hotel & Residences project downtown. But if the developer and its partner Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund II LP cannot line up a new equity partner or come up with the funding another way, it may be "required to delay further construction of the project until additional financing is available."

Stratus (Nasdaq: STRS) and Canyon-Johnson entered into their development deal on the $300 million W project in May 2008 and subsequently lined up a construction loan with Corus Bank NA to finance costs above the $128 million commitment on the part of the developers.

According to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, on June 26 the loan agreement with Corus was assigned to a subsidiary of Stratus, which is jointly managed by Stratus and Canyon-Johnson, in exchange for a pay down of $250,000 of the outstanding principal balance of $2.1 million. As a result, Corus is no longer the lender and in the second quarter Stratus recognized a $200,000 loss on extinguishment of debt.

According to Stratus, as of the end of the second quarter, it had invested $35.3 million in the project and Canyon-Johnson $48.7 million. The company says moving forward it will fund 40 percent of the remaining project costs and Canyon-Johnson 60 percent until the required capital totaling $128 million is reached. But once that point is reached, they'll need a new source of capital to continue construction.

The joint venture partners say they are pursuing other options for financing the future construction costs on the project. Such options may include additional equity contributions by Stratus and Canyon-Johnson, financing from other financial institutions, admitting new equity partners, or a combination of those alternatives...

[slfunk]

What a big disappointment that would be. When I was down there this past spring you could see the structure being installed for the theater that is part of the project.

[aygriffith]

Another IBM for Austin?

[NThomas]

Another IBM for Austin?
Hopefully not, word is that there's plenty of time to secure the gap in funding so it's doubtful the project would stop. There was even mention that Stratus has enough capital to bridge the gap if they can't find anyone else to but at that point, Stratus would have to delay other projects down the road. I really doubt that this will end up as a shell but it's not entirely out of the question.

[AeroD]

NThomas,

I heard recently that Austonian no longer has a budget for marketing. Any truth to that?

[NThomas]

NThomas,

I heard recently that Austonian no longer has a budget for marketing. Any truth to that?
Considering there's still a lot of units left to be sold, I wouldn't believe that for a second. The thing hasn't even topped-out yet! The only time I've heard of developments shutting down their sales & marketing for a project while it was still under construction was the peak of this last boom in Miami and Las Vegas. The places would sell out (not under-contract, sold) before they were finished and there was no reason for them to continue to sell something if it wasn't available. Benchmark Development doesn't have too much else on its plate right now so expect to see/hear a lot more about The Austonian AFTER it's finished.