Some interesting news from tomorrow's paper.
Click on the link below for a map of the area.
From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/co.../30rainey.html
REAL ESTATE
13 acres of downtown for sale
Sellers envision plan that includes residential, retail, restaurant and hotel components.
By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thirteen acres of prime real estate in downtown Austin are up for grabs, the largest offering of private property in the city's core.
Much of the land is in the historic Rainey Street area, which in 2005 was rezoned for higher-density development like the rest of downtown.
About half of the 13 acres is owned by local developers Perry Lorenz and Robert Knight; the rest is listed for sale by Knight Real Estate Corp.
The buyer will have a rare, even unprecedented, opportunity to transform an overlooked gateway into downtown into a signature project, Knight said.
"We want to get this in the hands of someone who can maximize its potential," Knight said. "We're hoping there's some major redeveloper out there who realizes this is a major opportunity to control a key piece of real estate downtown . . . and create the finest example of urban development in the country."
The goal is for a "master developer," or a team or even teams of developers, to come up with a plan that complements the high-rise residential, hotel and other projects being built or planned in the area.
Those projects include the 22-story Shore condominium tower, an adjacent boutique hotel and a 31-story luxury apartment building by Legacy Partners at Rainey and Cummings streets.
"Obviously, there's a lot of activity going on down there," Knight said. "But what's missing is any kind of planned, cohesive development."
For years, Knight and Lorenz have tried to get the area's numerous property owners to sell their holdings, with little luck.
Now, they are hoping a developer or team with more negotiating power and the financial clout can persuade the owners to sell.
Potentially, the winning developer could end up with 25 to 30 acres, depending on whether other owners decide to sell, Knight said.
"We want to get the combined experience and the patience and the capital to do Rainey Street right and turn it into a really nice neighborhood, not just a bunch of individual buildings popping up," Knight said.
"I don't want to claim I'm altruistic, but it would be easy for us to sell our pieces individually and let the chips fall where they may. But we want this to be a really good place for people to live in an urban environment that fits the model that the City of Austin says it wants," he said.
And, he said, "Perry and I have a little ego in this. We've been working on it a long time and want to see it done right."
Knight envisions a "classic mixed-use neighborhood" that would include residential, retail, restaurant and hotel components.
Knight and Lorenz will publicize the offering in the several months, seeking expressions of interest and developers' ideas now, not bids.
They also will send details of the offering to developers who have expressed interest over the years. Knight said he and Lorenz want to avoid more of what has been happening, with people cherry-picking and developing parcels piecemeal.
Legacy Partners is buying some of the land from Lorenz and Knight for its luxury apartment project.
The two also own land at the southwest corner of Red River and East Cesar Chavez Street, where Constellation Property Group plans to build a mixed-use project.
Constellation originally proposed a condo and a hotel tower, each with about 30 stories.
But Constellation President Eugene Marchese said Thursday that the latest plan is for a single tower of about 27 stories with condominiums and retail.
Constellation does not have the land under contract, although it has in the past.
Included in the 13-acre offering is land at the end of Red River Street, where the Villas on Town Lake condominiums are located.
Knight has the listing for the Villas property.
Built in 1982, the Villas' 54 units are home to about 75 to 100 people, said Michael Abraham, secretary of the homeowners association board.
The association voted to include the Villas land in the offering after an informal poll of owners found strong support.
He said the board wants to make an informed decision about its future, "and exploring the option of a sale is a way to educate ourselves about our options."
The homeowners association bylaws state that if 80 percent of the owners want to sell their units, the remaining 20 percent would be required to sell as well, Abraham said.
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