New Startup Moving To Austin - Recommendations? (Round Rock, McKinney: for sale, affordable apartments)

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I disagree on the office space question. It is interesting you answered the question with no explanation.

Unless this company is already flush with cash flow office space downtown will cost much more than in the more typical tech areas of 360 and the Arboretum area.

Locating downtown also forces the employees into long commutes or overpriced housing if they want to live close to work. Austin has terrible traffic jams coming into and out of downtown during rush hours. It makes far more sense for businesses that don't need to be there to locate further out. The Arboretum area is a good choice, SW Austin also offers many good options for both office parks in close proximity to decent housing options (Single Family & Apartments & Condos) as well as restaurants and shops (Barton Creek Mall, Sunset Valley shopping centers) and other technology companies (Freescale, AMD, Intel).

[Komeht]

5000 sf is practically nothing - it's the size of a decent restaurant - in terms of commercial lease space, negligible. You could rent this anywhere is Austin. You also can't throw a dead cat without hitting a high-tech whiz kid around here there's absolutely nothing preventing you from locating any area you want.

However, if I were you looking to keep and retain young talent - look central as that is where youngsters like to be.

[10scoachrick]

Heck, I'll throw in a vote for the Lakeline area, specifically close to the Lakeline train station. Plenty of new residences going up...apts, SFH...even some 'Green' homes right across the street from the station. I don't know about many of the techy businesses in the area, but Parmer Ln. seems to have its share and Zynga is just next door to the Lakeline station(along with others I don't recall).

Brand new Alamo Draft House opening soon, giant HEB Plus, two minutes off 183 or Parmer. Not EVERYbody is going to be young and single forever!(But I would imagine those nice new apartments have plenty of single folks living in them).

Just a snapshot of the area:
Lakeline Boulevard between North Lake Creek Parkway and Lyndhurst Street - Community Impact Newspaper

[harrel]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Heck, I'll throw in a vote for the Lakeline area, specifically close to the Lakeline train station. Plenty of new residences going up...apts, SFH...even some 'Green' homes right across the street from the station. I don't know about many of the techy businesses in the area, but Parmer Ln. seems to have its share and Zynga is just next door to the Lakeline station(along with others I don't recall).

Brand new Alamo Draft House opening soon, giant HEB Plus, two minutes off 183 or Parmer. Not EVERYbody is going to be young and single forever!(But I would imagine those nice new apartments have plenty of single folks living in them).

Just a snapshot of the area:
Lakeline Boulevard between North Lake Creek Parkway and Lyndhurst Street - Community Impact Newspaper

Hey 10scoachrick, Thank You!

I'll be visiting various neighbourhoods next week, I'll definitely check few recommendations from here. Its interesting to see Zynga built an office in this neighbourhood, Zynga has an office at SOMA in San Fran where we're currently head quartered. They usually choose places that are really central and easy to commute for their employees.

[EzPeterson]

Which is what makes this Zynga location a bit odd. Granted, it's walking distance from the light rail, but "central" it is not - nor does it currently have the usual lunch-type restaurants you usually find around those types of office developments.

Relatively close by to there is the Freescale/Apple/Oracle/EBay row along Parmer, which does have many of those establishments already in place.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

Which is what makes this Zynga location a bit odd. Granted, it's walking distance from the light rail, but "central" it is not - nor does it currently have the usual lunch-type restaurants you usually find around those types of office developments.

Relatively close by to there is the Freescale/Apple/Oracle/EBay row along Parmer, which does have many of those establishments already in place.

They're not quite 'across the street' but within 1/4 mile or so you have Subway, Mama Fu's, Chipotle, Paisano's Trattoria, Quiznos, and if one is willing to walk or drive another quarter-mile, Panera, Egg & I, Denny's. Slide under 183 and every small and large chain restaurant will be at your bidding. It is an 'unusual' area around there...the residential development across from the train station should prove interesting.

I wonder how many folks working in the immediate area live in the immediate area. NVIDIA also has a presence in that office complex.

[ericsami]

since I am a software guy.
I have worked in round rock.
I have worked in North West Austin
and I have worked south.

let me comment.
---
are you guys gone fly alot?

if yes you might consider locating south (it is a bit more expensive and popular lately)
by south i mean sompe place south of the river on Mopac Express way
untill Mopac Intersect with Capital of 360 highway.

or perhaps somplace on south lamar (some place on south lamar south of the river)

the positive stuff about south austin is that food options are just way more. and young people tend to like a bit more.
and if you really rich it is better for you office is slightly close to the airport. (10 minutes closer)

and if you live in westlake south austin is a bit quicker to get to.

--- now
I my self live in North west austin (arboretum ara)
and I am biased on it. food options are not greatest. but you could say they are second best in austin.
it is a bit more affordable that south austin.
if there is no traffic you could be in airport in 25 minutes.

you could get to affluent (west lake) or poor neighborhoods in about 15-20 minute with moderate traffic.

and arboretum itself is upper middle class.


now two places to avoid cedar park (north 620 and 183 ) intersection there is pretty much no well known IT company.

Round Rock (if you young guys working for you.) dont go there. the food really is not like austin. and really techs have stopped going there. pretty much we have Dell and a Ge subsidiary in RoundRock. more than anything the food really sucks.

if you want an affordable place (with 5 million i would say you do). I would focus on the following area.

---norhtwest---
focus on Mopac Expressway North of Farwest blvd and mopac express way south of braker lane. (google and bunch of other players there)


focus on 183 norh of intersection with Mopac. and south of McNeil/Spicewood. (there is apple,Charles Schwab in Oaknoll area)

I honestly would not go to domain. I think it would be over priced realstate. the restaurants and people who hang out at the domain are also a bit over rated.


stay out of anything south of 183 and mopac intersection.

you can probably find the cheapest prices in cedar park and next round rock.

but if would recommend to going to second cheapest. which is what i outlined in your northwest search.

[gsrstilez]

Another vote for south/southwest of the river. I live in the South Lamar area, which has become a very popular area for young professionals. The retail/restaurant scene on South Lamar, South First, and South Congress is one of the best in Austin.

While home prices have been trending up and inventory moves fast, this are is still much cheaper than any major city in CA.

Another plus is you are about 10 minutes from the airport and about 5 minutes from the center of downtown.

[mark311]

Just to add, and I'm sure that the Op already knows this, but it's very possible that a good portion of your staff will be over 30 and have families. I worked at a successful software start-up in Palo Alto for a couple years and experienced senior engineers are needed just as much as the College grads that you can train. Actually, the majority of our people were senior level engineers willing to work for a discount in order to get the big payout when we were bought. You might need to pull from the Asian Indian populiation in the NW Austin area as well.

[mesmer]

I agree with all the recommendations that along 183 or Mopac north of where they cross each other, or along Parmer west of Mopac are the hottest areas for tech companies. There used to be more tech companies down south, but I feel as though that is less the case right now. The area we're describing hits a sweet spot for a lot of folks - senior engineers with families can find affordable housing with good schools and a reasonable commute, while young folks who want to go out at night can live more centrally and commute north against typical traffic patterns. The closer you're able to get to the arboretum or domain, the more food choices there are for lunches and meetings, but there's still plenty of tech companies that have chosen to go further out. Good luck!