The coming hi-rise condo crash in Austin (houses, homebuyer)

[atxcio]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't really feel like paying for parking at the meters thing is a big deal. It's common in many other cities, and $1 per hour still seems like a good deal. I consider it a fair trade for the sheer number of new restaurants and things to do that now exist there... but again, that's just me.

I don't care much for the upscale trend, though, and what tends to push me over the edge is how the upscale places seem to dictate a higher level of dress code... not that they do specifically (besides some of the new clubs), but it just seems like it's a general trend. I've always prized the fact that you could walk into any place in Austin and never feel under-dressed. That's more important to me than spending a few more bucks because the restaurants cost more or the parking costs more. But alas, I just think it comes with the territory now...

Not all the restaurants are that expensive, though. Frank is pretty reasonable, Mulberry and Garrido's aren't too bad, and there are happy hour specials at many other places. There are also the ubiquitous groupon or restuarant.com certificates that you can get for almost any place... $25 "gift certificates" for $2 or $3 with a coupon code, etc.

[homeinatx]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I know. And I've read "Who Moved My Cheese?", and I agree that things can't stay the same and we all have to adapt.

That said, downtown Austin is becoming increasingly unfriendly to those of us who've come to appreciate it as an occasional, but not regular, destination.

The recent parking meter change is just one example. My wife and I at least once a year have a downtown routine. We drive downtown and park at a free (after-hours) meter sometime between 5:30-6:30. We eat at Roaring Fork (1.5 hours), walk down S. Congress to the Hideout for coffee/desert (0.5-1 hour). Then we stroll 6th street to Red River and back (1-1.5 hours). If we don't get drawn into a club for some reason, the shortest amount of time we spend on the night out is 3 hours.

With the new after-hours paid parking with a 3 hour limit, we have to get done and leave in less than 3 hours or risk getting a parking ticket. So now we'll have to use a parking garage instead of free on-street parking, or give up the leisure, unhurried open-endedness of the night.



The same will be true for people meeting up for happy hours downtown. Instead of lingering and spending more money, they'll have to get back to their cars to feed the meter, or pay more up front to park in a garage somewhere.

It's not that this is a deal breaker. But it's part of the creeping trend toward downtown becoming more expensive and more hassle as a night out destination. Lately we've been spending more time on Barton Springs Rd. where we can have the same type of evening with a stroll through Zilker or around Town Lake instead of 6th St.

Steve

Please, cry me a river. Pay the extra $5-7 on your once yearly visit for a parking garage. Downtown Austin is infinitely superior to what it was in 2001 when I moved to Austin. People are living there. It is no longer just a drive by destination for suburbanites. Austin finally has a viable residential urban neighborhood. I wish there were more middle-class housing options - though you can find older condos for under 200K, and if the city got its public transportation act together, parking would not be such a problem for visitors.

A stroll through Zilker or around Town Lake is a spectacular option to have, though you are not going to find anything like the quality and variety of restaurants on Barton Springs Road that you can find downtown.

[jobert]

Interesting article about real estate today in CNN:

Million-dollar homes sales rise nearly 20% - Mar. 7, 2011

Apparently the sale of 1MM+ homes has risen in tandem with the last bull run in stocks.

"After four straight years of declines, sales of million-dollar homes and condos rose last year in all 20 major metro areas, according to DataQuick Information Systems. On average, these cities saw an 18.6% jump in high-end home sales.....Meanwhile, sales outside of this price point actually fell 2.8%.

The increasing rate of high-end home purchases may give a little explanation as to why the average sales price Austin has risen sharply since the March 2009 nadir in the equities market. This may explain how places like the W and Four Seasons are able to sell $500K+ condos at the clip they have, and the middle class's inabilty to explain how it was possible. We may be seeing a return of the "portfolio house" at the higher end of the market while the "paycheck house" market continues to stagnate. Where to go from here? Will we see the rich start snatching up the 150K-300K market to capitalize on the surge in renters and the spectre of inflation? I think it's possible.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by homeinatx

Please, cry me a river. Pay the extra $5-7 on your once yearly visit for a parking garage. Downtown Austin is infinitely superior to what it was in 2001 when I moved to Austin. People are living there. It is no longer just a drive by destination for suburbanites. Austin finally has a viable residential urban neighborhood. I wish there were more middle-class housing options - though you can find older condos for under 200K, and if the city got its public transportation act together, parking would not be such a problem for visitors.

A stroll through Zilker or around Town Lake is a spectacular option to have, though you are not going to find anything like the quality and variety of restaurants on Barton Springs Road that you can find downtown.

I'm just saying, these are "canary in the coal mine" type red flags that tell me a shift has occurred, and that the downtown Austin we've come to know and love is going away, probably for good.

Perhaps what comes next will be better in many ways, but for us cheapskates who like free parking, cheap Mexican food, low-end coffee dives like the Hideout, and the older laid back vibe, I think we've earned at least one good cry. --->

Steve

[twange]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I'm just saying, these are "canary in the coal mine" type red flags that tell me a shift has occurred, and that the downtown Austin we've come to know and love is going away, probably for good.

Perhaps what comes next will be better in many ways, but for us cheapskates who like free parking, cheap Mexican food, low-end coffee dives like the Hideout, and the older laid back vibe, I think we've earned at least one good cry. --->

Steve

Steve,

Cry away!

I think for a lot of newer residents (especially the younger 20-somethings), the Austin they've come to know and love (or hate) is the Austin of now - so they won't really know any differently. But in 20 years, they'll pine for the good old days of the early 2000s and they will have earned their "cry" I don't think it's turned into "someplace else", like Houston, Dallas or what ever other city Austinites like to pick on. It's just Austin 2011. There are still tons of cheap, laid-back eats around the city, just not downtown so much. I am in regular contact with hundreds of younger people who absolutely love downtown Austin and can't get enough of it.

I personally don't hang out DT too often - I prefer the near South and East-sides, where there seem to be new food places popping up weekly!

The parking thing - eh, I don't mind it really, although I usually try to find a free space somewhere and walk. Ultimately, it could encourage more people to use the bus...though I doubt it

[TexasHorseLady]

Steve

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I'm just saying, these are "canary in the coal mine" type red flags that tell me a shift has occurred, and that the downtown Austin we've come to know and love is going away, probably for good.

Perhaps what comes next will be better in many ways, but for us cheapskates who like free parking, cheap Mexican food, low-end coffee dives like the Hideout, and the older laid back vibe, I think we've earned at least one good cry. --->

Steve

Steve, I have to spread the reputation around some, but you absolutely said it here!

They don't even know what they're missing. Even though it's what drew everyone here in the first place for so long.

[gpurcell]

Austin's growing up into a major American city, simple as that. That's going to involve loss...but it is also an absolutely fascinating front-row seat for watching how a truly urban area gets stitched together.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Steve


Steve, I have to spread the reputation around some, but you absolutely said it here!

They don't even know what they're missing. Even though it's what drew everyone here in the first place for so long.

Uh, I don't think that's quite what drew everyone here.

There's things called jobs, lower cost of living, & warm weather...to name a few.

I miss the older, pre-Armadillo World Headquarters Austin, but am not going miss it that much. The world is constantly changing for better & worse.

I intend to enjoy the better before shuffling off this mortal coil.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Steve


Steve, I have to spread the reputation around some, but you absolutely said it here!

They don't even know what they're missing. Even though it's what drew everyone here in the first place for so long.

Please explain what it was that they are missing?

Speaking as someone who worked in downtown Austin from 1980-2006, including many long late nights of overtime. What I see when I visit there now in the evenings is a vibrant, fun, exciting environment. A great improvement over the urban desert that existed there before.

The new downtown has a vibrant, energetic feel to it these days. It is exciting to visit there. Greatly superior to the dead, weedy vacant parking lots and old rotting decrepit and abandoned warehouses that used to be there. I recall times when the rats outnumbered the humans on most of the streets in the CBD; when most of downtown Austin was a deserted graveyard after 6 PM after everyone went home from work. Sixth street being the only exclusion, and even parts of it were dead. I remember nights when there was nothing open after 6PM on Congress Avenue between Cesar Chavez and the Texas Capital building, excepting the Stephen F. Austin Hotel and the Paramount Theater.

The new downtown Austin is a vast improvement. Viva Austin!

There are now thousand more musicians, bartenders, chef's, wait staff and others employed in downtown Austin now compared to the nostalgic past that some lament.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Please explain what it was that they are missing?

Speaking as someone who worked in downtown Austin from 1980-2006, including many long late nights of overtime. What I see when I visit there now in the evenings is a vibrant, fun, exciting environment. A great improvement over the urban desert that existed there before.

The new downtown has a vibrant, energetic feel to it these days. It is exciting to visit there. Greatly superior to the dead, weedy vacant parking lots and old rotting decrepit and abandoned warehouses that used to be there. I recall times when the rats outnumbered the humans on most of the streets in the CBD; when most of downtown Austin was a deserted graveyard after 6 PM after everyone went home from work. Sixth street being the only exclusion, and even parts of it were dead. I remember nights when there was nothing open after 6PM on Congress Avenue between Cesar Chavez and the Texas Capital building, excepting the Stephen F. Austin Hotel and the Paramount Theater.

The new downtown Austin is a vast improvement. Viva Austin!

There are now thousand more musicians, bartenders, chef's, wait staff and others employed in downtown Austin now compared to the nostalgic past that some lament.

I feel the same way.