Over 200 affordable homes planned on city-owned property in East Austin "An affordable housing project called the Libertad is set to bring over 200 affordable homes to city-owned property in East Austin. The project at 900 Gardner Road will be built on a vacant, 8.5-acre slice of a larger property that is home to the Austin Animal Center, among other city organizations, as well as nonprofit Emancipet." (Jonathan Lee, Austin Monitor)
Austin rises to No. 1 in ranking of best office markets for 2022 "Buoyed by expected job growth of 5.6 percent, Austin reigns as the country’s No. 1 office market for 2022, according to a new report. The report, published by commercial real estate services provider Marcus & Millichap, cites Austin’s position as a magnet for tech employers as one of the reasons for the bullish outlook regarding this year’s local office market." (John Egan, CultureMap Austin)
321 West Tower Breaks Ground With a New Look at Sixth and Guadalupe "The 58-floor office and apartment tower plan known as 321 West celebrated its official groundbreaking on Wednesday this week at the southeast corner of West Sixth and Guadalupe Streets in downtown Austin, even though its crackerjack development team of Ryan Companies and Tishman Speyer haven’t actually mentioned it yet." (James Rambin, Towers)
City, business leaders aim to make Austin a hub for cryptocurrency, Web3, blockchain "City of Austin officials and local business leaders are rolling out a number of initiatives aimed at making Central Texas a leader in emerging technologies such as cryptocurrency, Web3 and the blockchain." (Kara Carlson, Austin American-Statesman)
Austin to get $150M in major transit corridor projects off the ground in 2022 "The Austin Corridor Program Office continues to make progress on the nearly $500 million in transportation upgrades it is overseeing following passage of the city's 2016 mobility bond, with around $150 million in safety and other mobility projects expected to get off the ground in 2022." (Ben Thompson, Community Impact)
Blackstone subsidiary plans 631K square feet of warehouses in Round Rock "The last-mile logistics real estate arm of one of the country's largest investment managers is staying mum on its plans for a huge warehouse facility in Round Rock. Link Logistics Real Estate LLC, which was established in 2019 by Blackstone Inc., is behind a $38 million, 631,000-square-foot industrial warehouse development dubbed Settlers Grove at 2200 Chisholm Trail that is expected to break ground in May and be completed in 13 months." (Justin Sayers, Austin Business Journal)
South by Southwest is back in person with its annual 'shot in the arm' to Austin's economy "South by Southwest returned in full force today with its first in-person festival in three years. A perennial boost to the economy, the festival brings restaurant diners, hotel guests, rideshare passengers, tech workers with expense accounts and souvenir shoppers. 'South by Southwest is always a big shot in the arm in terms of the amount of commerce that goes on in Austin, particularly in the downtown area,' SXSW Chief Programming Officer Hugh Forrest said. 'We know that in 2019, the event had a $350 million economic impact on Austin, which is, you know, a sizable percentage of what a Super Bowl does.'" (Jimmy Maas, KUT-FM)
