to Bars, Bands and Boutiques Next Door by Laura Mohammad Life Photography by Barton Wilder Custom Images an domestic bliss at Seaholm that would be thirty-fi ve hun- dominiums at 1212 Guadalupe St., coming on downtown, says downtown Austin can be found in a small dred to forty-fi ve hundred square feet. At from a Villas on Town Lake unit at 80 Red be a home for families as well. He and his downtown condo? last count, Staley says they have met with River St. that was more than three hundred wife share a Milago condo at 54 Rainey St. Yes, according to as many as twelve developers about expan- square feet bigger. Less space doesn’t mat- with their toddler and baby. Downtown has Marc Perlman, who sion possibilities. ter to her. stroller destinations for the girls, complete lives with his prized Staley says he knew Royal Blue would She’s always out and about, she says, with a walk through the park. The Burns- CD collection, book- be a hit downtown. What surprised him biking everywhere, whether feeding the es even do their shopping at Whole Foods Cshelves, bed, and not by stroller. much else in a condo Burns is one of about fi fty-eight hun- of seven hundred ninety-two square feet in dred residents living in the area defi ned by the Avenue Lofts, at 400 E. Fifth St. the City of Austin as downtown: I-35 to Perlman loves his loft. More than loves Lamar and Martin Luther King to the north it. shore of Town Lake. The city’s fi gures are The twenty-eight-year-old software de- based on a formula of one-point-seven peo- veloper loves the fact that he can see his ple per unit. If all the condo and apart- home two blocks south and one block east ment projects the city is tracking are built from his workplace, Blue Fish Development and occupied in the next ten years or so, Group. He loves that he can walk to Sixth there will be eighteen thousand residents in Street bars and not worry about designated downtown and near downtown, which ap- drivers or cabs. And he really loves that the proaches Mayor Will Wynn’s goal of twen- unit he bought in 2004 for a hundred eighty- ty-fi ve thousand by 2015. seven thousand dollars is now worth as much Near downtown includes projects like as two hundred sixty thousand dollars. AquaTerra at 210 Barton Springs Road Downsides? being built by Crescent Resources LLC, “If you need toilet paper, and you move which will have twenty stories with a hun- downtown, your options are pretty limit- dred sixty-three units, all ranging from ed,” he says. Grocery stores—that’s a fea- three hundred thousand to one-point-three- ture that keeps coming up in conversations million dollars. And there are the numer- with downtown developers. And with good ous projects on the eastside, like Sixth + reason. Brushy, one block east of I-35 on a bluff “You cannot underestimate the val- between Fifth and Sixth streets, which will ue of having a Whole Foods store just two have twenty-four condominium units start- blocks from your hotel or condo,” says ing at a hundred seventy-nine thousand Kent Collins of Centro Partners LLC. Cen- dollars. tro is the partner fi rm in Seaholm Power Wynn’s vision raises three questions: LLC that’s handling the residential compo- Can twenty-fi ve thousand people fi t in the George Scariano Jr. and Craig Staley, owners of Royal Blue Grocery. nent of redeveloping the Seaholm Power traditional downtown borders; will the Plant, a massive project going up just north was some of the feedback. For some of the geese at Town Lake or trekking to The projects actually come to pass; and will the of Cesar Chavez and east of Lamar. customers, he says, the store recalls the University of Texas or the Texas Capitol. people keep moving downtown? “Whole Foods Market (at Sixth Street feel of their childhood neighborhood cor- “I don’t really miss the room. Now all and Lamar Boulevard) is a scene,” says ner store. I have is really good stuff,” she says of “Stack ’em deep, sell ’em cheap” Perry Lorenz of Zenith Partners Ltd. a part- Their fi rst week open, a lady came downsizing. Wynn’s vision is achievable, says Mi- ner in the Spring condo project at Third downstairs from the AMLI Downtown The empty nester and the young profes- chael Knox, downtown principal planner and Bowie Streets. “It is an amazing, apartments above the store and gave the sional are the favorite targets of Austin de- for the City of Austin’s Economic Growth amazing phenomenon. It has all those eat- owners a list of thirty items. Stock these velopers. Why? and Redevelopment Services. “Some proj- ing stations. It’s a subtle thing, but I think things, and you’ve got a customer, she said. Lorenz says the developers aren’t pur- ects are virtually sold out before they’ve it plays into (buyers’ interest)…It’s kind of So they did. suing the empty nesters and young profes- started construction,” Knox says. the European experience.” Then there was the guy who came sionals—those groups are pursing them. “In the next fi fteen years we will Also, a stunningly successful gourmet down during the football game to pick “Those are the people who want them. have another million people (in the Aus- food store is fi nding its way into the hearts up some brew or chips. He told the store I know it in my bones,” says Lorenz. tin area),” Knox says. “If we can capture a of downtown developers. workers he’d be back in a bit. “Family people want the more suburban couple percent of those people downtown, Craig Staley and partner George Scaria- “We said, ‘Hey, we’re that guy’s refrig- experience. But once your children grow, then, sure, we can (get twenty-fi ve thou- no Jr. opened a thousand-square-foot gour- erator.’ That’s kind of a funny way of look- you don’t want a three-thousand-fi ve-hun- sand).” met market September 1. Two months lat- ing at what we do, but that’s what we do.” dred-square-foot house with a sprinkler But parking, zoning, and property with er, the owners of Royal Blue Grocery at Janet Gilles, fi fty-nine, loves downtown system and an alarm system.” multiple owners are all obstacles for the 247 W. Third St. started talking about ex- living so much, she downsized from one And, “The young professionals aren’t ask- proponents of a downtown with twen- panding. By December, they were look- downtown condo to another. About a year ing about schools and ball clubs,” he says. ty-fi ve thousand residents, says Robert ing at plans to have four or fi ve downtown ago, she moved into her nine-hundred-fi f- But Realtor Kevin Burns, founder of Knight, a partner with Knight Real Estate stores in the next ten years, with an anchor ty-square-foot unit at the Penthouse Con- urbanspace, a real estate company focusing Corporation and a longtime member of the 50 THE GOOD LIFE ■ WWW.GOODLIFEMAG.COM ■ FEBRUARY 2007 Downtown Commission. three condos adjacent to the “The easy ones will be Hyatt Regency Austin. plucked fi rst, then they’ll Downtown Condo Residents Tell Their Tales of Biking, Walking and Pushing the Wynn predicts Austin come back and get the hard will have the nation’s most ones—maybe,” says Knight, Stroller to Where They Want to Be, With No Intention of Going Very Far vibrant downtown core as referring to developers’ pursuit plans for eighteen-foot side- of property on which to build. walks, multi-level parking The uncomplicated proper- and mixed use are achieved. ties—for example, when there Wynn, who has a degree is one owner and the existing in architecture and a back- building is not a landmark— ground in development, are fi lling up fast, he says. says he based the number of But one roadblock can twenty-fi ve thousand in part be removed. While the city’s on what has happened down- zoning rules limit height town so far. by imposing an eight-to- Knight says there is a lot one fl oor-to-area ratio, that to draw the young singles, can be waived, says Knox. couples and empty nesters. “Some are asking for a thir- “Sure, it’s expensive to live ty-to-one fl oor-to-area ra- downtown,” he says. “It’s tio.” Lorenz’s forty-one-story also expensive to live in El- Spring project—which will gin,” because of the cost and have thirty-six fl oors of liv- time of a commute. ing space, plus fi ve levels for “It’s all about gas prices parking, gym, pool and other and time. When you spend amenities—was approved for forty-fi ve minutes in the a twelve-to-one ratio. morning and forty-fi ve min- A fl oor-to-area ratio dic- utes in the afternoon (driv- tates how much total square ing), that’s a lot of time,” footage a building can have, says Lorenz. based on the total site area. If people are willing to For example, a building on give up the big lawn and the a ten-thousand-square-foot big house, if they can get site, with an eight-to-one ra- used to having one car, says tio, could have no more than Knight, then the vision is eighty thousand square feet feasible.