Downtown Austin Market News

[BevoLJ]

I was wondering if anyone had or knew were to find any sort of numbers on the growth of the retail in Downtown Austin over the past 20, 10 years or even past 5 years?

I posted this in another thread but the past two days while I was downtown I went by that Apple Store and both days the line was around the block. Yesterday I got in the line and it only took like 15 mins. It was really really fast. Faster than a line you would expect at an amusement park. And anyone that has ever been in an Apple Store knows they don't let you leave with out spending tons of cash. How long this line has been for days now, and how fast it is really has blown my mind in how many people must be going through that store and how much money it must be making.

I looked around a little on the internet for some sort of numbers on retail space, retail employees, retail occupancy and how much sales tax is made downtown but can't seem to find it or know where to look. And I would love to be able to find those numbers vs what they were 10 to 20 years ago. Anyone have a suggestion on where I might find what I am looking for?

[Somnio]

Austin's CBD had 3,869,297 square feet of gross leasable area in 371 buildings as of the end of 2009. 85,957 sq. ft. of space was under construction. The vacancy rate was 4.1%.

The Austin market in total had 72,928,442 sq. ft. of GLA in 4,935 buildings. 767,498 sq. ft. was under construction. The vacancy was 6.8%.

http://recenter.tamu.edu/mreports/2010/AustinRRock.pdf

[BevoLJ]

A new Tom Stacy story. He is looking to find a large retail store to fill the 17,000' space where the Austin Museum of Art is on Congress.

http://www.statesman.com/business/de...e=rss_business

Developer trying to lure national retailer downtown
Site museum set to leave has enough space companies need
By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 10:51 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Austin developer Tom Stacy plans to bring Congress Avenue retail back in a big way by luring a major national or international store to a 17,000-square foot space at a building he owns on Austin's premier avenue. T. Stacy & Associates and Amstar, which own the building at 823 Congress Ave., are looking for a "triple A" tenant to fill the space, now occupied by the Austin Museum of Art. The museum will vacate in November to consolidate at its Laguna Gloria site in West Austin.

The Downtown Austin Alliance, a coalition of downtown property and business owners, has been working to attract more local and national retailers downtown for years. One element that strategy lacked, Stacy said, was a space big enough for a retailer needing 15,000 to 20,000 square feet.

Stacy said the street-level space the museum will empty fits the bill, and "the timing is perfect" to reposition the space at Congress Avenue and Ninth Street for retail.

Stacy said he already is in discussions with some prospects, including national companies, but declined to name them. He said he hopes to have a leased signed by the time the museum leaves.

He said he plans to redesign the ground-floor space to accommodate a retail tenant, including adding floor-to-ceiling windows and other enhancements.
....

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

A new Tom Stacy story. He is looking to find a large retail store to fill the 17,000' space where the Austin Museum of Art is on Congress.

http://www.statesman.com/business/de...e=rss_business

i'll take a nice big H & M please!

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

i'll take a nice big H & M please!

That'd be nice.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/pr...ntown-biz.html

Apple retailer targets downtown biz

Austin Business Journal - by Sandra Zaragoza , ABJ Staff
Date: Friday, April 1, 2011, 5:00am CDT

Apple Inc. aficionados who were happy to see the company’s temporary store — well-stocked with iPad2s — come to Congress Avenue and Sixth Street during South by Southwest won’t have to wait long for a permanent Apple retailer downtown.

Austin MacWorks, an authorized retailer and reseller of Apple products, services and consulting, is coming to the Second Street District. The new store will be near the How Do You Roll sushi and Malaga restaurants.

[migol24]

the apple in that location is a perfect spot for downtown! a location there can certainly bring more people to that area during the weekdays. now people will not have to drive all the way to barton creek mall or the domain. i'm excited.

[Myomi]

Originally Posted by migol24

the apple in that location is a perfect spot for downtown! a location there can certainly bring more people to that area during the weekdays. now people will not have to drive all the way to barton creek mall or the domain. i'm excited.

Not to burst everyone's bubble but this is NOT an Apple Store. This is a third party authorized retailer who will be selling Apple products. It certainly will not generate the foot traffic that a actual Apple store would. It might be a nice little shop that will serve that area nicely, but I certainly will continue to wait for an actual Apple store to launch in downtown.

My only concern is that when making the third party reseller agreement, the owners needed a guarantee from Apple that they wouldn't open a store (after all a real Apple store would annihilate any chance this store would have at success). Even if such a an agreement doesn't exist, I am sure the owners at least looked into if Apple was about to open a store downtown...I just hope this store doesn't signal that a real Apple store downtown (and the activity that would generate) is far from being a reality.

[KevinFromTexas]

ABJ

Rumors have circulated in and around Austin that a big-box retailer like Target might be looking for a fresh spot to plant another one of its big red bullseyes, maybe even downtown.

[LoneStarMike]

and the very next sentence in that article is:

But the 21 Target stores on the drawing board are going to places such as Lakewood, Colo.; Chandler, Ark.; and Blue Ash, Ohio.

However, that article does mention

But, just for the record, Target isn’t going to be completely stagnant here. It’s planning to make some changes at several locations after some recent revamps.

“Our expanded fresh food layout is now available in Southwest Austin, East Austin and the Austin Arboretum Target stores,” Target spokeswoman Sarah VanNevel said.

Target said the food layout was created in response to research and feedback from customers who requested more fresh food.

I shop at the oldest Target in Austin - Store #0096 on Ben White & South Lamar. That one's so old they don't even have conveyor belts at the checkout stands. One of the employees said it opened in 1979. It's supposed to be getting the expanded food section. From what I understand, the building will be enlarged to the east towards Victory Dr.

I wish they'd do something with the other shopping center along the east side of Lamar (Wells Fargo, Hancock Fabrics, Thrift Store, Harbor Freight Tools & the now closed Lacks Furniture store.) It's got that huge parking lot which is way underutilized for the few businesses that are left. And while they're at it, they should tear down that old Furr's Cafeteria, which has also gone out of business.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

ABJ

If you recall.... long before Whole Foods too over the site at 6th and Lamar...That was designed to be a Target... supposedly at the time one of the first "urban" Targets.

[mars-man]

The sector of downtown that seems to make the most sense for an "urban" Target and/or a grocery store (or Trader Joe's) is the Green redevelopment. In its favor are a clean slate site, proximity to many of the existing (and coming) condos, and good accessibility via Cesar Chavez for those who visit by car.

Seems reasonable to think that Trammell Crow will explore all the "big retail" possibilities to fill a niche with their Green master plan. Even though such a store was explicitly mentioned in only one of the competing Green proposals, and it wasn't TC's, that hypothetical H-E-B did seem to capture the imagination of a lot of people.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by mars-man

The sector of downtown that seems to make the most sense for an "urban" Target and/or a grocery store (or Trader Joe's) is the Green redevelopment. In its favor are a clean slate site, proximity to many of the existing (and coming) condos, and good accessibility via Cesar Chavez for those who visit by car.

Seems reasonable to think that Trammell Crow will explore all the "big retail" possibilities to fill a niche with their Green master plan. Even though such a store was explicitly mentioned in only one of the competing Green proposals, and it wasn't TC's, that hypothetical H-E-B did seem to capture the imagination of a lot of people.

Makes sense to me.

[Armybrat]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

:

I shop at the oldest Target in Austin - Store #0096 on Ben White & South Lamar. That one's so old they don't even have conveyor belts at the checkout stands. One of the employees said it opened in 1979.

"old"

50+ years ago when we shopped at the really old Woolworth's store on the west side of Congress, if you made a purchase at a counter, the clerk put the sales invoice and your money in a pneumatic tube (like the modern bank drive-thrus use) which whisked it away to a central cashier. A minute later the change & receipt came popping back. The old wood floors creaked pretty loud and the planks were full of brass repair patches.

Over in Taylor in old Pruett's Hardware Store instead of a pneumatic tube, they used a similar container that was propelled around the store on an overhead system of wires. The clerk put the cash & invoice in the container and pulled down hard once on a cord handle which provided the energy to zip it over to the teller's cage.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

"old"

50+ years ago when we shopped at the really old Woolworth's store on the west side of Congress, if you made a purchase at a counter, the clerk put the sales invoice and your money in a pneumatic tube (like the modern bank drive-thrus use) which whisked it away to a central cashier. A minute later the change & receipt came popping back. The old wood floors creaked pretty loud and the planks were full of brass repair patches.

Over in Taylor in old Pruett's Hardware Store instead of a pneumatic tube, they used a similar container that was propelled around the store on an overhead system of wires. The clerk put the cash & invoice in the container and pulled down hard once on a cord handle which provided the energy to zip it over to the teller's cage.

That Woolworth's was still open in the very early 1980s. I believe it was torn down for One American Center.

[KevinFromTexas]

This article states the occupancy rate for retail on 2nd Street is at 80 percent.

http://www.austin360.com/movies/seco...m-1426533.html

Second Street District hoping for a lift from new arthouse movie theater

By Gary Dinges
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 9:21 p.m. Friday, April 22, 2011
Published: 9:18 p.m. Friday, April 22, 2011

The coming attraction in Austin's Second Street District is getting plenty of buzz.

Violet Crown Cinema, specializing in documentaries as well as art, indie and international films, will open its doors at 434 W. Second St. on Friday, after nearly two years of planning and construction.

Nearby businesses and AMLI, which owns two apartment buildings and is the district's property manager, are hopeful the theater's arrival — combined with the recent opening of the W Austin Hotel and the ACL Live venue just a block away — will draw more people to the area, where retail space is now 80 percent occupied.

[BevoLJ]

I'm not a big art house movie type fan, but my girl is very excited about that new VC cinema. So I see myself getting dragged there many times in the near future. lol.

Hopefully the food and drinks is as good as they are being advertised! And it is a hell of a lot closer than the cinema up north. Not sure if that is good or bad for me.

[BevoLJ]

http://www.statesman.com/business/ur...e=rss_business

Urban Outfitters to open downtown store in W Hotel complex
By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 8:48 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Urban Outfitters will open a store in downtown Austin in August, in the W Austin Hotel and Residences development north of City Hall.

The popular purveyor of clothing, accessories and "apartment wares" that targets 18-to-30-year-olds will open a 9,931-square-foot street-level store, below the new Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater venue.

Beau Armstrong, CEO of developer Stratus Properties Inc., said Urban Outfitters' "cutting edge" brand and products will complement both the W project and the larger Second Street district.

Urban Outfitters also has a store on Guadalupe Street near the University of Texas.

The new lease is for 10 years.

"We just really felt that was the perfect retailer for the block," Armstrong said. "They're well-run, so at a pure economic level, they're a great tenant business-wise. Layer that with a W and all the things going on in the district, and we feel they're a very compatible tenant for Second Street. Their product line and their corporate philosophy fits well with the W brand and with Austin."

Armstrong also noted that music is a big part of Urban Outfitters' in-store culture, another way it fits with the block housing the new studios for KLRU's "Austin City Limits."

Urban Outfitters joins nearly 60 other retailers in downtown's Second Street district, which includes shops, restaurants and entertainment attractions, including the Violet Crown Cinema, an art-house movie theater that opens Friday.

....

Oh, and on another note (not really retail, but real estate) I saw our own DAB mentioned on the Statesman. Grats!

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...office_do.html

Galligan opens Re-Max office downtown
By Emily Brown | Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 03:30 PM

Jude Galligan will lead the Re-Max Downtown Austin office as owner/broker. Galligan was previously an agent at Urbanspace for four years.

[migol24]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

I'm not a big art house movie type fan, but my girl is very excited about that new VC cinema. So I see myself getting dragged there many times in the near future. lol.

Hopefully the food and drinks is as good as they are being advertised! And it is a hell of a lot closer than the cinema up north. Not sure if that is good or bad for me.

I liked going to the Arboretum Cinema but I hated going to the Arboretum.

[LoneStarMike]

Trader Joe’s scouting for sites in Austin, other Texas cities

The Dallas Morning News reported this morning that the company is looking for locations in Austin, Dallas and Houston. The company operates small stores — 10,000 to 15,000 square feet — but is a strong competitor.