Dive Brief:
- Developers are planning a $400 million, 60-story luxury residential tower, in Austin, TX, which, when completed, would be the tallest building in the city, the Austin Business Journal reported.
- Austin-based developers Sutton Co. and Dallas-based Koa Partners will include office space and 440 luxury apartments — starting at $2,000 per month — in the main tower, and 200 units and 200 hotel rooms in a smaller, adjacent building.
- One reason that developers will be allowed to build such a large-scale project, which is expected to begin in 2017, is due to the fact that they have included below-market-rate units as part of the city's density bonus policy, according to Austin's Planning and Zoning Department.
Dive Insight:
The 2-acre site on Lady Bird Lake is already home to a 58-unit condominium development, which will be demolished to make way for the tower complex.
Late last year, another residential high-rise building in Austin, The Independent, grabbed headlines for its Jenga-like exterior. Upon completion, the 58-story, $300 million skyscraper will be Austin's tallest building until the Sutton-Koa tower is complete. Developers of The Independent paid $2.7 million to Austin's Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $1 million to the city for infrastructure.
Austin doesn't seem to have a shortage of luxury housing, but affordable units are hard to come by in the city, which is undergoing somewhat of a tech boom. One project that is trying to tackle that problem is Transwestern Development Company's "Indie" microunit apartment building, which will feature 139 furnished rental units from 350 square feet to 520 square feet, renting at $1,100-$2,000 per month. Developers said the project is targeted toward millennials and others who want to live near Austin's entertainment spots but can't afford the city's high rents.