The Austonian Blog - Downtown Luxury Condo in Austin, Texas

Austin Celebrates Earth Month

April is Earth Month, with Earth Day taking place on April 22. Environmentally-focused activities across Austin throughout the week of April 16-22nd include eco home tours, green living expos, eco-friendly story time for kids and a celebration at Republic Square Park.

The celebration in downtown Republic Square Park will take place on Saturday, April 18 and include live music on a solar-powered stage, a green product marketplace, informative exhibits and a green art fair.

Located in downtown Austin, The Austonian offers high-rise living in a dense, environmentally-sustainable design. In the spirit of Earth Month, we would like to share a few of these eco-friendly elements:

• High density in an urban setting translates to fewer trips in cars and less water used for landscape maintenance. The landscape water savings are significant: 35.6 million gallons, when compared with 178 one-acre single family suburban lots.
• The Austonian also incorporates the latest green building standards. This includes a roofing system, which has reflective materials to minimize its contribution to Austin’s urban heat island effect. It also uses chilled water for air conditioning in lieu of over 178 individual condensation units, which results in more efficient production of cool air and a lower overall impact on natural resources.
• A 12,000 square-foot urban garden located on the 10th floor will include native plants and an herb garden. The plants will absorb heat and will be irrigated by a rainwater capture system. This landscape design was recently profiled in the Austin Business Journal.

To read more about The Austonian’s green features, read our March 11th post, Redefining the Luxury Home.

A Dog’s Life at The Austonian

In recognition of the role that pets play in our daily lives, The Austonian has created a distinct set of services and amenities that cater to four-legged friends.

Dog walking, pet sitting, grooming and vet care from The Austonian team of local providers are a phone call away. Taking your dog outside at any time, day or night, is easy – The Austonian has a secured, 600 square-foot dog park on the 10th floor. Need a wash? Our 10th-floor grooming and dog wash area makes pet care easy.

Located at the corner of 2nd and Congress in Austin, Texas, The Austonian is in the heart of downtown Austin. A pet-friendly town, Austin offers many opportunities to get outside with your dog. Whether you are taking a walk around nearby Lady Bird Lake or grabbing a cup of coffee at Jo’s on 2nd Street, dogs are part of the family.

More information about The Austonian high-rise luxury condos is available at http://www.theaustonian.com.

Construction Update: 3/24/09

Austonian construction continues to move forward as the building climbs higher into the Austin skyline. The tower crane jumped another 100 feet over the weekend and now stands at approximately 550 feet.

Construction inside the tower continues, with the crew working on interior framing, sheetrocking, ductwork, plumbing, chilled water risers and electrical bus ducts.

Level 38 will be poured this week, leaving only 13 more floors until The Austonian is officially the tallest building in Austin. The view towards the Frost Tower from Level 37 follows.

Is the Austin Condo Market Overbuilt?

To get a sense of the current market conditions, Austin Chronicle writer Katherine Gregor recently spoke with local representatives of the major Downtown Austin condo projects.

Gregor’s article distinguishes between rental units and condominium units, which is an important distinction when evaluating the housing supply. In 2008, 776 new condominiums were completed and available in Austin. Of those, 670 have sold. Currently an additional 790 condominiums are under construction; approximately 350 of those are under contract. That leaves only 546 units to sell over three to four years and no new projects are slated to hit the market through 2012 or 2013.

As a frame of reference, Gregor contrasted Austin's 500+ unsold condos with the current oversupply of condominiums in Miami.  In the Miami area, between 5,000 and 7,000 units (existing and under construction) are unsold.  Such projects, she stated, tend to be deeply discounted, turn into rental apartments, or just go under altogether. Kevin Burns, CEO of UrbanSpace, calculated that Miami is building one condo for every 40 residents; Austin is building one new condo downtown for every 1,022 residents. Contrary to the extreme situation in Miami, the Austin condo towers currently under construction are expected to sell out despite the national economic crisis.

Read Gregor's article, "Pondering Downtown Condos," here.

Another recent article supporting downtown growth was written in Community Impact.

The article cited a 2009 economic forecast from AngelouEconomics. In the forecast, principal Angelos Angelou hailed positive natural growth in the population as the most significant indicator of future housing growth.

Angelou expects that there will be a shortage in housing as builders focus on the national state of the market in lieu of the positive growth that Austin is experiencing.

In 2008, only 8,100 housing units were built compared to the 18,000 in 2007. This year’s unit count is expected to be even lower, at only 6,000. Angelou asserts that the ideal number of home starts for Austin this year is 11,000.

Read the full article here.

 

The Austonian by the Numbers

The Austonian offers unparalleled luxury in an iconic structure. Located at the corner of 2^nd and Congress, The Austonian is only a short walk from the Texas State Capitol, Lady Bird Lake, and numerous restaurants, stores and offices. Test your familiarity with the services and amenities offered by The Austonian with the following facts:

14            The value of assets in billions of U.S. dollars of Grupo Villar Mir, the family-owned company developing The Austonian.

12,000     The square footage of The Lawn, a private urban garden and pool area located on the 10^th floor.

35.6         Millions of gallons of water saved by 178 families living at The Austonian vs. a typical suburban home.

0              The amount of hours residents will spend maintaining over 40,000 square feet of private amenities.

1              The number of Austin luxury high-rise condominiums with over 40,000 square feet of private amenities available exclusively to residents and their invited guests.

0              The number of uninvited people sharing the private amenities of The Austonian.

4              The number of stars that The Austonian is pursuing from Austin Energy’s Green Building Rating System.

3              Fiber backbones make state-of-the-art technology possible in each unit and throughout the building.

4              The number of guest suites available to Austonian residents’ overnight visitors.

600          Number of square feet dedicated solely to The Austonian’s four-legged residents.

12            The number of seats available in the 10^th-floor theatre screening room.

360          The degree span of the views from the 56^th-floor Fitness Center and the 55^th-floor Austonian Club.

1              Simplicate touch screen in each unit controls temperature, media, security systems and lighting and also connects with Austonian Assistants and valets.

24            The number of hours in the day that Austonian Assistants and valets are available to assist residents.

1,000       The speed of The Austonian’s passenger elevators, measured in feet-per-minute.

800          The freight elevator speed measured in feet-per-minute. This elevator is connected to a 1^st-floor bay that accommodates an entire moving truck.

Learn more about Austin's premier luxury high-rise at The Austonian website, which includes floor plans, renderings and sneak previews of the views the tallest residential building in the western United States offers. 

Towering Reputations: Downtown Austin Condos Will Offer Services as Satisfying as the Views

The Austonian was included in an Austin American-Statesman’s “Statesman Homes” article this weekend. The story focused on the luxury and services that downtown Austin condominiums offer.

An excerpt from the story: “Of all the towers under construction downtown, The Austonian on Congress Avenue will be the tallest, at 56 stories. It will also be one of the most exclusive.”

Read the full article here.

The Austonian Hosts the 2010 WSL Showhouse

The Austonian will be the exclusive site of the 2010 Symphony Designer Showhouse, an annual fundraising event of the Women’s Symphony League of Austin (WSL), providing the public an up-close experience of high-rise luxury living in the heart of downtown.

During the Showhouse, three condo units at The Austonian will be designed by licensed interior designers of the State of Texas. The 2010 Showhouse has created a highly competitive desire in the design community to be selected to participate in the Showhouse. After much deliberation, the chosen design teams are the International Institute of Interior Designers (IIDA), who will design one unit, and The American Society Interior Designers (ASID), who will outfit the two remaining units. The three condos will be designed to fit buyer profiles similar to those who have already purchased condos units at The Austonian: Empty Nesters, Young Professionals and Bachelors.

Design work has begun and the teams will present their plans to the Showhouse committee this month.

Proceeds from the 2010 Symphony Designer Showhouse will go to the Austin Symphony Orchestra and its music education programs for children. For more information on the WSL Showhouse, visit http://www.symphonyshowhouse.org/.

The Austonian Reaches Level 35

The Austonian’s tall, slender shape is emerging from the downtown Austin skyline. Level 35 was poured early this morning and installation of the building’s low-e glass skin has reached Level 26.

As work on the exterior continues to move forward, the interior of this high-rise luxury condominium is also beginning to take shape. Sheet rock has been installed on Level 10 and 11 and preparation for plastering is underway.

Soon, site visitors will be able to envision themselves having a relaxing facial in one of our spa treatment rooms, playing a game of pool in the billiard and game room, or watching a movie in our twelve-seat theater. Until then, visit The Austonian website to view the floor-by-floor amenities included with these high-rise luxury homes.