Developers to Add Over 630 Units to Austin’s Housing Stock

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

A new 16-story tower with 277 luxury apartments will be built in downtown Austin. Riverside Resources is planning to develop the high-end residential project, which will replace the former Whitley Printing Co. building.

In addition, another residential project is planned for downtown Austin. Endeavor Real Estate Group recently confirmed its plans to build a 34-story tower that will include 350 apartments and 45,000 square feet of office space.

The third downtown residential project was announced by Gables Residential, which will start construction works early next year on Gables Park Plaza II. This project will be adjacent to the Gables Park Plaza project.

Riverside’s project was already approved by the Austin City Council, and construction works will soon break ground, according to the Austin Business Journal. The publication adds that the building will be completed and ready for residents in the spring of 2013. The developer also plans to include 10,000 square feet of commercial space and a 6,000-square-foot restaurant.

But Endeavor, Riverside Resources and Gables Residential are not the only developers with plans to build apartment projects in Austin. The Austin Business Journal reports that the number of proposed apartments is significantly higher than in the past years. Currently, developers plan for approximately 10,000 to 12,000 new apartments in the Austin area, as compared to the 7,000 to 8,000 new starts that were proposed in the past years.

Since June, Austin has recorded very high occupancy rates, up to 96 percent, in both downtown and other areas. This growth is driven by factors like job growth, newcomers and a limited number of units under construction. These factors pushed rents to new records, as the average rent downtown exceeds $2,000 per month, as reported by the Austin Business Journal. As a matter of fact, the apartment market in Austin is one of the healthiest in the United States and continues to attract developers.