Study Tour Day 1- Austin, TX

Fred Evins:
Economic Growth & Redevelopment

He’s an architect and project manager for the city and has been for 24 years. In his past he designed libraries and fire stations for the city. Mr. Evins tries to get big companies to come to the area and also small businesses. He’s focused on the downtown area of economic growth and redevelopment. He makes sure certain city departments meet their obligations and does mediation sessions trying to find an option that all parties will agree upon. Mr. Evins' presentation was unique in discussing the specific requirements such as height restrictions on buildings; also I had never heard of the step stone effect which means that buildings near the river are shorter than the buildings deeper into the city and as you go deeper into the city the heights of the buildings are able to be taller. It was also interesting to learn there are even restrictions about how you have to be able see the capital from 12 different places and it can’t be covered by certain buildings. What I gained from his presentation was that you have to be able to look into the future to see what the market would support when doing developing.

Christopher Johnson: Manager of Development Assistant Center
Mr. Johnson is in charge of consulting with people to tell them what they can do if they have been given property in a will. He looks at plans from developers and other individuals and looks for red flags within the plans. A lot of people dream about things they want to do and he tells them the hard truth about their projects. The center he works in he quoted as “the one stop shop”; this is where a developer can get everything done in one building. There are people from all processes of developing such as water department, electricians, zoning people, and people that know about site plans. During the bad economic times they had about 250 clients each week, but now they are back up to 500 per week. Something unique is that Austin has a lot of regulations they have to go by. Certain fees are increased in areas where polluting the water source is sensitive. There are four different water shed classifications that Mr. Johnson told us about. I learned from Mr. Johnson that many different things are done so that water isn’t polluted such as certain businesses can capture 2 ½ inches of water and then it can be reused later. These businesses also have to have zero waste.

Leon Barba
Mr. Barba is responsible for all inspectors in the city. Most of his time is spent on residential issues. I learned that there are many reasons why you have to obtain a permit. For example, any structural additions, when taking a wall out or before any electrical changes occur, permits are required. The city counts on the contractors to get permits. In Austin, contractors don’t have to be licensed or have registration. When the inspectors come out to give you a permit for something they can also look at life safety rules around the house. Framing is the biggest problem with inspection.


Michael Knox:
Redevelopment of Downtown Austin

Mr. Knox has worked for over 20 years in Austin, TX. Something unique about Austin is that they offer few incentives. The only ones they offer is their low interest rate loan up to $250,000, but there are strings attached; you’re not allowed to sell your business. Most development in the city is made up of new buildings. They have a retail recruiter that goes around looking for people to bring retail groups to Sixth Street. Mr. Knox is trying to make downtown a place where people want to go. Mr. Knox talked about how it’s hard to come up with a consistent vision for everyone to agree with for Austin because so many people have their own vision of where they want Austin to be in the future.


Richard Morgan: Green Building

He’s in charge of the efficiency program. Mr. Morgan discussed the rating system that the Austin Energy Group uses. Their ratings are stricter than the LEED ratings. All municipal buildings have to have a Silver rating on the LEED scale. 50% of the projects that the Austin Energy Group does are voluntary. Small business community is the hardest to reach because they don’t want to pay the extra money to be green and efficient. Since they started their rating program only two buildings have received five star ratings. These ratings are free now, but when ratings are given next year companies will be charged to receive their rating. With the rating, value is added to a property. I learned that the first green building was built in 1991 in Austin, and I didn’t know that Austin is a leading city in being green.

Terry Mitchell: Tour of The Austonian

This was an amazing tour of something I’ve never seen before. Mr. Mitchell talked about 4 things that they want to sell at The Austonian. Convenience, true luxury, exclusivity, and privacy are what drove their decisions and what are very important to them. 6% of the buyers are from west Austin and the average age is 55. They started construction of the 166 units in September 2007. 40% of condos there are currently sold. 61 per sq foot are your HOA costs which includes water and electric. LEED grade is gold. It was awesome how they looked at all of the details that people would want and also the study of the market was incredible; they even studied what the name of the condo should be.

Terry Mitchell: Chestnut Commons
Chestnut Commons used to be an old concrete facility and had to be dug out before dirt was put back in because of all the concrete there. There are 64 homes that make up Chestnut Commons. The competition for Chestnut Commons are flats because they have one bedroom and cottages there. People paid extra just for a fence in the front yard and these were the properties that were sold first. These properties opened in 2007 and they sold 7 or 8 right off the bat and then had no sales for 90 days. During this time they put in all the landscaping and fixtures. After this more people started purchasing because they could actually see what they were previously being told was going to happen there. They spent $75,000 on marketing and 60-70% of sales were from word of mouth. Mr. Mitchell likes to do a lot of the research himself to find out what the market wants.