Posted Feb 16, 2017, 8:48 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: 360, St. Edwards
Posts: 12,381
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‘Coolness Factor’ Draws Developers to East Austin, Tex.
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Originally Posted by NY Times
AUSTIN, Tex. — About five years ago, a young bartender in downtown Austin told Josh Delk that she was renting a house on the other side of nearby Interstate 35, in the lower part of a rambling East Austin neighborhood that stretches from the Colorado River north to 12th Street.
The neighborhood was perceived to be a place to avoid after dark, so the fact that she rode her bike to and from work, often in the wee hours, was eye-opening. At the time, Mr. Delk, a vice president with the commercial real estate firm Transwestern Development Company, was overseeing the construction of apartments in a trendy area south of the river and was courting her generation.
“I said, ‘You’re my demographic,’” recalled Mr. Delk, who had witnessed fits and starts of development in East Austin over the years. “And I thought, ‘Has East Austin finally arrived?’”
He and other developers quickly discovered the answer. Bar and restaurant operators were expanding downtown’s vibrant Sixth Street entertainment district into East Austin. Millennial renters and single-family home rehabbers were moving in and gentrifying the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. The Lance Armstrong Foundation’s move into a converted East Austin warehouse had also generated interest among creative companies looking for new locations.
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