Oracle Buys Out Town Lake Village Condos, With Demolition on Deck "Demolition could be on the way for the Town Lake Village condo community after a buyout of its 74 units at 1201 Tinnin Ford Road by new neighbor Oracle Corporation, which after establishing its new headquarters nearby on Lakeshore Boulevard in 2018 has rapidly expanded its presence with several parcels in the area under its control." (James Rambin, Towers)
60-apartment micro-housing project breaks ground in East Austin "Austin-based developer Watershed Development Group announced March 14 that its Sixth and Chicon project, located at 1812 E. Sixth St., Austin, has broken ground. Developers said the six-story multifamily housing complex designed by Mark Odom Studio will offer a minimalist "micro-lifestyle" in the rapidly-developing east side area located near the Plaza Saltillo Capital Metro station and a variety of restaurants, bars and retail spaces." (Ben Thompson, Community Impact)
A rush of applications for housing help forces Travis County to close its program months early "Following what one official described as an “absolute deluge” of interest, Travis County says it has stopped taking applications for a program to help people make their rent and mortgage payments. The county had nearly $9.2 million in federal and local funds to help people making below a certain income pay for housing. Staff opened the program on March 1, and said they would stop accepting applications at the end of September or once the money ran out." (Audrey McGlinchy, KUT)
CodeNEXT, the City of Austin's effort to overhaul its land development code, is essentially dead "A ruling from the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston on Wednesday sides with a group of residents who took issue with Austin City Council's vote to amend land code rules in the city." (Shawna M Reding, KVUE-TV)
Pete Buttigieg talks climate change, Project Connect during SXSW visit "At the individual level, there are several ways to reduce carbon emissions as people move from place to place, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during his South by Southwest town hall session Wednesday. One is to make car trips from point A to point B more environmentally friendly with such technologies as electric vehicles. Another is to expand public transit to reduce the number of one-person car trips. A third, he said, is to make some trips unnecessary by building communities to be more walkable and bikeable." (Sarah Asch and Madlin Mekelburg, Austin American-Statesman)
Austin metro area’s median home price climbs to all-time high of $500,000 "It’s a benchmark that is sure to make many homebuyers cringe: The median sale price of a home in the Austin area officially sits just $5 short of $500,000. In a report released Tuesday, March 15, the Austin Board of Realtors divulged that the metro area’s median home price in February jumped to an all-time high of $499,995. That’s 27.9 percent above the median price ($391,000) in February 2021 and 5 percent above the median price ($476,000) in January 2022." (John Egan, CultureMap Austin)
North Central Texas governments group has ‘initial conversations’ with Elon Musk’s The Boring Company "The North Central Texas Council of Governments has held some early discussions with an Elon Musk company looking to provide tunnels to assist with transportation. 'We have had initial conversations with The Boring Company, which has expressed interest in partnering with entities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on projects of mutual benefit,' Brian Wilson, spokesperson for the local governmental group, said in an email to the Dallas Business Journal." (Brian Womack, Austin Business Journal)
Researchers say don't blame out-of-state movers for soaring home prices "Out-of-state movers are not driving Texas' surging home prices, according to new research from the Texas Real Estate Research Center. 'There is essentially no correlation between Texas' statewide home-price appreciation and migration patterns over the past 15 years,' said Wesley Miller, senior research associate for the Center at Texas A&M University.
