CAPELLA   AUSTIN  NEWSLETTER

February 20, 2022

Semiconductor Industry Startup Moov Picks Austin For Its second HQ

Austin American Statesman  – 2/16/2022

Moov operates a software marketplace and asset management platform that matches sellers of pre-owned semiconductor manufacturing equipment with potential buyers.  The company relocated to Tempe last year and last month announced that it would open a second headquarters in Austin.

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Austin Housing Market Heats Up With Record High Prices In January 2022

Austin Culture Map – 2/18/2022

In the continuation of sticker shock for local homebuyers, the median sale price for a home in the Austin area soared by 30.4 percent from January 2021 to this January, according to a new report from the Austin Board of Realtors. The  report shows the median sale price across the region reached $476,000 in January, a record high for that month.

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Wood Partners Breaks Ground on Latest Austin-Area Development

CoStar – 2/17/2022

Wood Partners is underway on a new apartment project in Georgetown, Texas, its latest development in the fast-growing city.

The firm broke ground on Alta Berry Creek, a 300-unit apartment complex that is being developed as part of the planned Berry Creek Highlands development off State Highway 195 at 2201 SH 195. At full build-out, the 314-acre master-planned community is designed to include more than 1,500 single family houses, new retail, an elementary school and a roughly- 20 acre park.  The complex is scheduled to open in January 2023 with preleasing to start late this year.

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Atmosphere Eats Up Much Of South Austin Building For New HQ

ABJ – 2/17/2022

Atmosphere, the streaming television startup that broadcasts videos to bars and waiting rooms around Austin and the nation, will have a new home next year.

The company in late January signed a 10-year lease for 110,000 square feet in the new Bouldin Creek office building, nearly six times the size of its current main office on Congress Avenue. It will occupy space on the first, third and fourth floors, which it will fill with hundreds of new employees, with teams dedicated to content production, engineering, sales and more. Tenant buildout is expected to take 14 to 16 months.

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Austin’s Hot Luxury Housing Market Sizzles With $10-Million-And-Up Sales, Report Says

Austin Culture Map – 2/15/2022

The ultra-rich were ultra-busy buying homes last year in Austin.  A new report from residential real estate brokerage Compass shows 11 homes in the Austin area sold for at least $10 million in 2021. That’s up a whopping 450 percent from the previous year — and marks the biggest increase among the 30 U.S. markets covered in the report.

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Formula 1 Renews Contract With COTA, US Grand Prix To Stay In Austin Through 2026

KXAN  – 2/17/2022

One of the top racing circuits in the world will keep burning rubber in Austin.  Formula 1 and Circuit of the Americas renewed their contract to keep the United States Grand Prix in town until 2026.  The 2022 race weekend is scheduled for Oct. 21-23.

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Hotel Van Zandt In Austin Sold To Maryland-Based Resort Company For $246 Million

Austin American Statesman  – 2/17/2022

Hotel Van Zandt, which sits in the booming Rainey Street district on downtown Austin’s southeast side, has a new owner.  Maryland-based Host Hotels & Resorts acquired the 16-story, 319-room luxury hotel, managed by Kimpton Hotels, for a purchase price of $246 million.

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St. David’s Healthcare Plans $953M Of Projects At Central Texas Medical Facilities

Community Impact  – 2/15/2022

St. David’s HealthCare is planning to build nearly $1 billion in health care infrastructure across Central Texas to meet rapid area growth. The Central Texas health system plans to build two new hospitals, build one behavioral health hospital, and expand capacity and services at current facilities in the Austin area.

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Incentives Help Texas Lure New $1.7 Billion Biorefinery That Turns Wood Chips Into Fuel

CoStar – 2/15/2022

Texas Renewable Fuels, a subsidiary of USA BioEnergy, expects to soon begin construction on a $1.7 billion advanced biorefinery in East Texas that turns wood chips into fuel after receiving $150 million in state and local incentives.  Texas Renewable Fuels plans to create 142 jobs to operate the biorefinery.

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As Supply Chain Headaches Mount, This Austin Startup Raises $31.5M To Help Ease The Pain

ABJ  – 2/15/2022

Austin supply chain software startup SourceDay Inc. has been developing a platform to help suppliers, manufacturers and business owners gain better, real-time visibility into the flow of materials.  The company secured $31.5 million in series C venture capital backing.

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Funding Wrap: Trust Ventures Raising $200M Third Fund; Startups Snag Nearly $66M

ABJ – 2/14/2022

In the past week, three companies based in the Austin area or with a second headquarters here reported a combined total of $65.5 million in funding secured.
‣  Enboarder, an Australia-based startup making human resources software, plans to grow in Austin after raising $32 million.
‣ Wander.com Inc., who specializes in helping people rent “smart” vacation homes, closed a $20 million series A funding round,
‣ Adthena Ltd., a marketing software company, secured a $13.5 million junior credit facility to help it grow in the U.S.
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Daryl Kunik’s Vision For Big East Austin Creative Hub Moves Forward

ABJ – 2/18/2022

Central Austin Management Group is moving forward with plans to build hundreds of apartments and a significant chunk of commercial space on the east side.

The development group, run by Daryl Kunik, will transform 21 acres off U.S. Hwy 183 into a community-oriented, mixed-use project designed to offer affordable access to both commercial and residential space.  Kunik said the current goal is to have the project delivered by the first or second quarter of 2025.

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Soaring Rents, Surging Demand Make For ‘Unprecedented’ Times In Austin’s Apartment Market

Austin American Statesman  – 2/14/2022

Surging population growth and rising home prices have created so much demand for apartment units in the Austin metro area that developers haven’t been able to keep up — even with apartments seemingly going up everywhere you look.

“I would say 2021 was a most extraordinary year for the apartment market — the most extraordinary I’ve ever seen,” said Charles Heimsath, president of Austin-based Capitol Market Research, who has been tracking the Austin-area apartment market since 1990.  Developers this year completed about 13,000 apartment units — the most ever recorded in one year in the metro area.  During that time, a net of 19,000 units were leased — twice as many as the market has ever absorbed before, Heimsath said.

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Austin-based developer Owen Holdings Inc. has started construction on 220 new homesites in the second and third phases of Parmer Ranch, a 454-acre, residential mixed-use community in Georgetown. Phase 1, consisting of 155 home sites, opened in summer 2021. Scheduled completion on the second and third phases is May of 2022. Owen Holdings also plans to launch construction on an additional 350 home sites in Q2 2022.

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Housing Updates: Ultra-Luxury Lakefront Community Half Sold, Downtown Tower Gets Financing And More

ABJ  – 2/15/2022

≈ The Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin, a multimillion-dollar lakefront community set to break ground in 2023, is already half reserved. The community will span 145 acres just west of Pennybacker Bridge, with 179 homes starting in the $4 million range.
≈ The Travis, a multifamily tower planned for the Rainey Street District, just received $173.42 million in construction financing through JPMorgan Chase & Co.
≈ Santa Rita Ranch, the Liberty Hill subdivision which was recently ranked one of the best-selling master-planned communities in the U.S., has begun sales on its forthcoming age-restricted homes.

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City Of Austin To Convert Burnet Road Hotel Into Apartment Complex For People Exiting Homelessness

Community Impact  – 2/17/2022

The city of Austin is converting the former Texas Bungalows Hotel & Suites at 13311 Burnet Road into a supportive apartment complex for people exiting homelessness which is expected to open in late 2022.  The apartment community, now known as Bungalows at Century Park, will feature 60 fully furnished studio apartments, common spaces, on-site security and 24-hour staffing, a laundry room and offices to facilitate social services.

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CelLink Moves Forward on Greater Austin Plant After $250 Million Funding Round

CoStar  – 2/18/2022

An automotive electronics technology company out of California is set to break ground next week on a new manufacturing plant in Georgetown, that is expected to make it one of the largest employers in the north Austin suburb.

CelLink, of San Carlos, will invest in a roughly 295,000-sq. ft. plant that will produce flexible circuits used in electric vehicles and battery storage units. The facility will be located within the Gateway35 Commerce Center, Titan Development’s master-planned industrial park at IH-35 and Toll 130, and is expected to open in June.

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IRS Reverses Course, Says It Won’t Close Austin Processing Facility

Austin American Statesman  – 2/18/2022

The Internal Revenue Service has reversed course and no longer plans to close its Austin facility.  The IRS said it will now keep the center, which is south of downtown Austin, open in order to “ensure there is sufficient capacity to best serve the nation’s taxpayers and process returns and taxpayer correspondence in a timely manner.”

The Austin facility currently has 3,400 employees, and the number of employees impacted by the decision to stay affects about 2,700 workers.

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79K-SF Grocery-Anchored Center In Georgetown Trades Hands

Recon  – 2/17/2022

Phillips Edison & Company has purchased Oak Meadows Marketplace, a Class A retail center on 11 acres at 5731 Williams Dr.  Built in 2018, the 78,888-sf property is anchored by Randalls and 92 percent leased. SRS Investment Properties Group represented the seller.

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