(East) Riverside Development (Austin, Burleson, Leander: low income, apartment complexes, rental)

[ashbeeigh]

East Austin's new Riverside development would be double the size of Domain


A project nicknamed “The Domain on Riverside” is now on steroids. Developers of the newly rebranded River Park mixed-use development in Southeast Austin have expanded the size to 109 acres and more than 10 million square feet.

In October 2019, the Austin City Council approved rezoning 97 acres for the project — previously known as 4700 East Riverside — over objections from critics, including the Defend Our Hoodz group. Opponents complained that the development would contribute to even more gentrification along the East Riverside Drive corridor.

At over 10 million square feet, River Park would be double the current size of the Domain mixed-use complex in North Austin. Several apartment complexes and the retail center would need to be bulldozed to make way for the project.

The River Park site is directly east of the headquarters of software giant Oracle. On December 11, Oracle announced it had moved its main office from Silicon Valley to Austin. The River Park land is bounded by Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Metro Park, East Riverside Drive, Pleasant Valley Road, and Country Club Creek.

https://austin.culturemap.com/news/r...et-river-park/

Wondering what the plan is for those "several apartment complexes" and their residents. This is so confusing and frustrating. And why is everything "The Next" Domain? This area houses many UT and ACC students. This is maddening.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

Wondering what the plan is for those "several apartment complexes" and their residents. This is so confusing and frustrating. And why is everything "The Next" Domain? This area houses many UT and ACC students. This is maddening.

Isn't this the third or fourth 'next Domain' ??? Just what we need.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Isn't this the third or fourth 'next Domain' ??? Just what we need.

Right. That’s what I’m saying. And in an area that is lower/moderate income and about one of the last of those in Austin proper.

[verybadgnome]

There will be 6,000 units with 400 designated affordable replacing ~500 dilapidated apartments. Plus there will be retail, office and a hotel. Sounds like much need new housing in an area with jobs and good quality of life........And please let's once and for all display this silly populist notion that barring the development/redevelopment of unused/underutilized land benefits us in the long run and will somehow prevent gentrification in a market economy where most land is (thankfully) in private hands. It won't and if this rezoning had not been approved those existing apartments would soon be converting to luxury apartments with zero affordable units. Unfortunately CMs like Casar don't understand this.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

There will be 6,000 units with 400 designated affordable replacing ~500 dilapidated apartments. Plus there will be retail, office and a hotel. Sounds like much need new housing in an area with jobs and good quality of life........And please let's once and for all display this silly populist notion that barring the development/redevelopment of unused/underutilized land benefits us in the long run and will somehow prevent gentrification in a market economy where most land is (thankfully) in private hands. It won't and if this rezoning had not been approved those existing apartments would soon be converting to luxury apartments with zero affordable units. Unfortunately CMs like Casar don't understand this.

Will any of these “affordable” homes be like the ones that they are demolishing that allow for individual rental by the room? Will they replace displaced units one for one? How will they help those that are being displaced? Will this even be possible given the current backlog of court cases if the new property owner evicts these residents? And I disagree about these current complexes turning “luxury.”

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Isn't this the third or fourth 'next Domain' ??? Just what we need.

If you’re still moving out this way, you wont be escaping them either. They’re pretty much set on sprouting one up right by my neighborhood. Difference in this scenario though is this is vacant land and will not be impacting current residents directly such as this.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

If you’re still moving out this way, you wont be escaping them either. They’re pretty much set on sprouting one up right by my neighborhood. Difference in this scenario though is this is vacant land and will not be impacting current residents directly such as this.

Yeah, it's going to be tough deciding whether to be closer to the new Leander "Domain" or the Sam Bass/1431 "Domain"

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Yeah, it's going to be tough deciding whether to be closer to the new Leander "Domain" or the Sam Bass/1431 "Domain"

Well, just keep in mind that ours will have a beach .. (for the first few months until the city of Leander rechecks reality and prohibits the maintenance of that Lagoon due to drought!)

In all fairness these things are going up all over the country and in some cases replacing neighborhoods and causing similar problems in terms of gentrification. I’m unsure what I feel about this one specifically. I don’t exactly like the idea of throwing away neighborhoods where students have affordable housing. It seems like it’s been in the books for alittle while now but was recently increased from 97 to 109 acres and my assumption is largely due to Oracles HQ announcement since it seems to be within the same area. At the same time given how fast east Austin is gentrifying I can’t help but feel that it was only a matter of time before something would be developed along the eastern river. I can’t help but feel before long everything inside and within the vicinity of 183 / 71 / MoPac will eventually be deemed primarily for the upper class / elite given the trajectory that intown areas are going...unless CODENext4 changes that in some fashion.

[Austin97]

increasing the total number of units is the only way to get "affordable" housing. As the total units increases, the oldest least desirable units become the affordable ones.

I put affordable in quotes because one official definition of affordable is less than 30% of income spent by people with median income or below. Low income housing is affordable to those making less than 80% of the median.

If you increase units enough eventually even luxury units become "affordable". In a city like austin there will definitely be induced demand. As you build units to satisfy current residents, you start to attract residents from higher cost areas. Still demand isnt infinite so if you build enough eventually prices will drop. One caveat is that builders stop building if they start to detect an oversupply. So what typically happens is you get into a bubble with everyone jumping on board to build projects and too many people build projects. Then you get an economic retraction, prices drop and building stops. Builders nursing their wounds are slow to start building again so demand outpaces supply and prices rise.

If you look at cities like chicago, they have plenty of supply so the median price is about $325K even with a much higher population. Creating more units is the answer and one way to do that is density another is sprawl (e.g. atlanta - median price 302K, houston - 250k)

Affordable housing will always be the older less well kept stock. As new units are built and are not able to be rented due to oversupply, their prices will drop. That puts downward pressure on rents of not as nice properties.

You are seeing this in san francisco right now. Demand has dropped so rents are falling.

Mandating that some houses are affordable will *never* solve the problem, but will make people feel good.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Well, just keep in mind that ours will have a beach .. (for the first few months until the city of Leander rechecks reality and prohibits the maintenance of that Lagoon due to drought!)

In all fairness these things are going up all over the country and in some cases replacing neighborhoods and causing similar problems in terms of gentrification. I’m unsure what I feel about this one specifically. I don’t exactly like the idea of throwing away neighborhoods where students have affordable housing. It seems like it’s been in the books for alittle while now but was recently increased from 97 to 109 acres and my assumption is largely due to Oracles HQ announcement since it seems to be within the same area. At the same time given how fast east Austin is gentrifying I can’t help but feel that it was only a matter of time before something would be developed along the eastern river. I can’t help but feel before long everything inside and within the vicinity of 183 / 71 / MoPac will eventually be deemed primarily for the upper class / elite given the trajectory that intown areas are going...unless CODENext4 changes that in some fashion.

The area on east riverside IS developed. It’s full of moderate income apartment complexes. If it was empty land I wouldn’t be upset at all. There are people already living here. If they want undeveloped land they can go a bit further east on Stassney between Burleson and Pleasant Valley, but the hipsters aren’t moving there so it’s not an option.