February 6, 2022

Hot Austin Market Rises To No. 1 Spot For Commercial Real Estate Investment In 2022

Austin Culture Map   – 2/1/2022

If a new ranking is accurate, Austin’s hot market for commercial real estate will continue to sizzle in 2022. The ranking, from Austin-based CrowdStreet, positions Austin as the country’s No. 1 market for commercial real estate investment this year, up from No. 2 last year. The company places Austin at No. 1 in the build-to-rent category, No. 2 in the office and retail categories, and No. 3 in the multifamily category.

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Texas Second Most Moved-To, Moved-Away-From State

Recon  – 2/4/2022

According to Move.org, Texas experienced both a mass influx and exodus of residents in 2021. The Lone Star State was the second most moved-to state last year, behind only Florida. Texas was also the second most moved-away-from state in 2021, trailing California.

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Developer Begins Work on $2 Billion Mixed-Use Project Near Apple’s Austin Campus

CoStar – 2/2/2022

A developer has begun work on a $2 billion mixed-use development near Apple’s corporate campus in northwest Austin, Texas, in a move expected to reshape the area by adding millions of square feet of office, retail and restaurant space, thousands of residences, two hotels and 30 acres of parkland.

The 156-acre mixed-use project, called Pearson Ranch, is being unveiled as Austin garners national attention from real estate investors and developers looking to bank on the future of the Texas capital city.  Austin-based Inspire Development is starting construction on the first phase of Pearson Ranch at the northeast corner of state Highway 45 and West Parmer Lane. The mixed-use project is expected to take 10 to 15 years to completely develop.

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Lincoln Ventures Reveals Multifamily Mid-Rise Plans For 5th St.

ABJ – 1/31/2022

Another big building will soon sprout in East Austin, as Lincoln Ventures LLC announced plans to build a six-story apartment community at 2700 E. Fifth St.

Austin-based Lincoln plans to break ground on the 767,725-square-foot project this summer. In addition to 625 apartments, the community will have a cafe, coworking office space, an urban grocery store and underground parking. The yet-to-be-named project at Pleasant Valley Road and Fifth Street could be online by the summer of 2024.

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Office Market Turns Corner

CoStar   – 2/1/2022

For the first time since 2020, the nation’s office market saw positive net gains in leasing, a sign that companies are confident employees will use their space, according to an industry report. Transwestern reported that U.S. office leasing during the 4th quarter had 644,000 sq. ft. more space filled by tenants moving in than the amount left vacant by those those moving out. It was also the first quarter with national average occupancy growth since the beginning of the pandemic.

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Austin Apartment Rents Increased 20% in 2021

Connect Media  – 2/3/2022

A recent report from the Austin Apartment Association highlighting the state of the industry in Austin found that apartment rents increased 20% in 2021, compared to 2020.  In 2021, Austin saw the second most apartment demand of any major market in the nation as a percentage of its inventory, with nearly 21,000 net new renters in the Austin metro, according to CoStar. In addition, the occupancy rate increased by 4.4% in Austin, which was the second fastest in the nation.

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Tennessee Developer Hitches Wagon To Hill Country

ABJ  – 2/4/2022

Nashville-based Southern Land Company LLC has bought its first Hill Country property, with plans to build a luxury community in housing-hungry Dripping Springs. The roughly 70-acre community at the end of Silver Creek Road will comprise 28 homes, according to company officials, who expect infrastructure construction to kick off this September.

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Austin Gets Another Nonstop Flight To Europe, This Time To Amsterdam

Austin American Statesman   – 2/1/2022

Austin is getting another nonstop flight to Europe, and this time it’s to Amsterdam.  KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will begin direct service between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on March 28.

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New Mexican Restaurant Sizzles Into Austin Suburb’s Hottest Development

Austin Culture Map  – 2/3/2022

Hungry, hungry hippos in the Hutto area can soon sink their teeth into some “exceptional Mexican cuisine,”. Jaime Fernandez,  owner/operator of Jalisco’s Restaurant & Bar in Austin and Buda, and Tequila Bar & Grill in Round Rock, will open a new restaurant concept at the Co-Op District in Hutto, off U.S. Hwy. 79.

The new Mexican food eatery, which has yet to be named, is planned for a late 2022 opening, and is expected to bring 40 to 60 jobs to the community.

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Austin’s Fast-Growing E-Commerce Firm Cart.Com Grabs $240M For Growth

Austin American Statesman   – 2/3/2022

Fast-growing e-commerce services provider Cart.com, which recently moved its headquarters from Houston to Austin, has raised $240 million for expansion.  Cart.com currently employs 150 people in Austin and executives say they plan to hire at least 150 more workers here in the next 12 months.

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Alamo Drafthouse Building Theaters In New Cities

ABJ  – 2/4/2022

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema LLC continues its expansion push after emerging from bankruptcy last year with new financial backers. The Austin-based chain of dine-in movie theaters plans to open four more locations, including in new markets Chicago and Birmingham, Alabama, It will also build additional theaters in the Denver area and in Grand Prairie, outside Dallas.

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Funding Wrap: First Dollar, Skimmer, Bodhi Score Fresh Cash

ABJ – 1/31/2022

‣  In the biggest funding of the week, SparkCognition Inc. said it raised a $123 million series D round at a $1.4 billion valuation.
‣  First Dollar Inc. has raised $14 million in series A funding to expand its wallet platform and integrate more types of benefits.
‣Austin real estate-technology startup Milestones Labs Inc. reported in a securities filing raising $10.3 million in new equity funding.
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Details Revealed On First Hotel At $1B EastVillage Community

ABJ – 2/2/2022

A six-story, 150-room 151,780-sq. ft. hotel will rise at EastVillage, a huge mixed-used community under development in North Austin at 3500 E. Parmer Lane, near Samsung’s longstanding Austin factory. New York-based Reger Holdings LLC is moving forward with The Hotel Austin at EastVillage, with groundbreaking planned for the second quarter. The hotel could be delivered by the fourth quarter of 2023.  The hotel will include a full-service restaurant and banquet facilities.

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Nearly 2,000 Multifamily Housing Units Slated For Construction In North Austin From 2022-25

Community Impact  – 1/29/2022

With commercial and business growth continuing close to The Domain, Domain Northside and the Q2 Stadium, several developers are bringing high-density multifamily housing units to the area.

There are at least six multifamily or mixed-use projects with residential components underway in North Austin. Together, these new developments are slated to bring 1,923 housing units to the area by 2025.  Construction on these complexes will continue throughout 2022, and some units may open for residents toward the end of the year.

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Austin remains a booming market for home sales, with the typical price of a home shooting up by more than 30 percent from December 2020 to December 2021. But for those who feel like they’re priced out of the homebuying market, an alternative is gaining ground — built-to-rent homes.

This trend is so popular in the Austin area that the region ranks 13th in the country for the number of homes in built-to-rent communities. That’s according to a new study from rental platform RentCafe, which puts the number of built-to-rent homes in the greater Austin area at 1,390.

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Tesla Files For ‘Project Cathode’ Facility Near Austin-Area EV Factory

ABJ  – 2/4/2022

Tesla Inc. is adding another massive industrial facility to its electric vehicle manufacturing campus in eastern Travis County.  The Austin-based company has plans for a “Project Cathode,” which news outlets are reporting will be a facility used to produce cathodes — part of a battery’s makeup — for manufacturing its own batteries. This appears to be part of the company’s wider plan to manufacture its batteries in-house as the EV and battery sector is booming.

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Texas Instruments Doubles Down on Spending Plans in Race to Develop Property for US Chipmaking

CoStar  – 2/4/2022

Texas Instruments is raising its spending budget over the next four years as it ramps up plans for developing real estate to produce more semiconductor chips in the United States at a cheaper cost than most of its competitors and gain more control of its supply chain.

The company plans to spend $3.5 billion per year through 2025, nearly double what it normally spends per year on capital expenditures. Executives are calling this a “long-term capacity roadmap” that will support growth at Texas Instruments, taking the company from two semiconductor plants making 300-millimeter wafers to eight of those.

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Packed Apartment Development Pipeline Will Likely Cool Rent Growth In Austin

ABJ  – 2/2/2022

In the first month of 2022 alone, Austin Business Journal has reported on thousands of new apartment units under construction or planned in the metro. Despite the intense development activity, rent prices are higher than ever — although rent appreciation could slow significantly in the coming months with all the additional inventory.

There are currently about 13,000 units under construction in Austin, and another nearly 37,000 proposed, according to ApartmentData. And the pipeline has already expanded significantly in 2022.

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2 More Developments Greenlit In Dripping Springs Despite Ongoing Moratorium

Community Impact  – 2/2/2022

Dripping Springs City Council granted two moratorium waivers to developers of a Hays Street subdivision and developers of a project at 4400 W. Hwy 290. at a Feb. 1 meeting.
◆The development at 4400 W. U.S. 290, consisting of seven commercial buildings, is a 4-acre site located 5 miles west of Dripping Springs in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. Since the property is outside of city limits, city staff determined planning efforts were unlikely to affect land use regulations on the property.
◆ Tejas Homes LLC will develop the Hays Street subdivision, located at 102 S. Bluff St. The property is 1.8 acres and will house six single-family residences.

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2 High-Tech Factories — Nearly $3B In Investment — May Land In Little Hutto

ABJ  – 2/1/2022

A pair of high-tech manufacturing projects that could create more than 1,600 jobs and nearly $3 billion in capital investment may be on their way to Hutto. While officials from the fast-growing suburb northeast of Austin did not reveal the names of any companies, they indicated during a Jan. 31 special called board meeting of the Hutto Economic Development Corp. that they are negotiating incentives agreement for the two projects.  Decisions are expected to be made by the middle of the year.

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Austin-Based Startup Casata Bringing Microhomes To San Marcos

Community Impact  – 2/1/2022

San Marcos City Council unanimously approved a development agreement with Austin-based startup Casata to build a new microhome development a few miles from downtown. Just over 200 rental homes will be built on 25 acres of land, ranging from 400-1,100 square feet with one to three bedrooms for rent from $1,175-$1,800. The development is expected to break ground this year, though there is no definitive timeline set for completion.

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