Lago, Condo and a little Southpark

9/25/200610:47:36 PM Link |  | Add comment

Around Austin, Downtown, Downtown Condos, Downtown Living, Lago Vista, Local Real Estate Information, Real Estate, Southpark Meadows

A few articles for your reading enjoyment on the Monday night...

Development 'The Falls at Lake Travis' in Lago Vista online - It looks like within 6 months a new development, under the name 'The Falls of Lake Travis' will begin construction.  The plan is for 510 homes and townhomes between $300,000 to more than $1,000,000 on 315 acres in Lago Vista.  In my opinion, it seems like an ambitious project for Lago Vista.  Lago Vista, while beautiful and on the water, does suffer from accessibility.  There is one main road to Lago Vista from the Austin area - a very windy stretch of 1431.  Most of the people I know who have lived in Lago Vista said that after a while they just couldn't take the commute anymore and moved back to the Austin area.  Much of the trade-off that you got for your longer commute was a more affordable house on the lake or in the hills overlooking the lake - not a bad trade-off if you couldn't foot the bill to live on the south side of Lake Travis (in the Lakeway, Spicewood, Briarcliff area) or off Volente or on Lake Austin.  With the price tag for many of these homes it will certainly raise the average home price in the Lago area.  It will be interesting to see how the market responds.  IIt is certainly possible that with more people tele-commuting and working at home that 'where' you work will become less important.  I also think that Lago is great for people who no longer have to work and want to be a ways out from the city, but still within a scenic 45 minute-hour drive.  One of the interesting things to think is that if there were a bridge that traversed Lake Travis from the Lakeway area to Lago Vista the lake north area would have massive development.

The Spring Condominiums locked up $70M financing for construction which should begin in early 2007 and is scheduled for completion in late 2008.  The Spring Condos will be a 41-story, 260-unit project with street level retail.  Prices are expected to range between $200,000 to $400,000.  It's really remarkable the Austin skyline has changed in the recent years and with several large buildings slated for construction it will be interesting to see it continue to develop.  On a related note, Royal Blue Grocery opened this past week becoming downtown's first neighborhood grocery store.  Well, at least the first downtown neighborhood grocery store in a long, long time.  Probably not a bad idea to have a little grocery available with staples (a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter) with downtown's burgeoning population.

And the last note, and of special personal interest to me, Southpark Meadows is up for sale.  The former concert venue, now giant generic commerical retail center isn't completely finished yet, but the JCPenny store opens next week with Borders Books, SuperTarget and a Cinemark movie theater on the way.  Currently tenants include Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby and Bed, Bath and Beyond*.  The reason this is of special interest to me is because of the past of Southpark Meadows.  I saw quite a few concerts there, most recently (but still nearly 10 years ago) a muddy lollapalooza and such bands as Live, Blues Traveler and BNL.  I remember a friend down from Dallas during that muddy, rainy concert saying 'This is what's so great about Austin - it's pouring rain, there's mud everywhere and yet everybody is just out here having a great time.  If this was in Dallas they would have called it off'.  I hope as the places go away Austin doesn't lose its identity and just become a city with a big-box retail center on every corner.

*PS

As a complete aside, everytime I hear the words Bed, Bath and Beyond the following line from the movie Old School rolls through my head:

Frank: I told my wife I wouldn't drink tonight. Besides, I got a big day tomorrow. You guys have a great time.
College Student: A big day? Doing what?
Frank: Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.