AUSTIN, Texas, June 11, 2007 - Luxury condominiums, a high-end hotel, a world-class contemporary art collection open free to the public 365 days per year, a landmark restaurant and artists' lofts will comprise the 21c Austin project when it opens in Texas' capital city in 2010. Project developers plan to break ground in the first quarter of 2008.

The project will be the second 21c project and the first with residential units. Developers stress that the Austin version will not replicate Louisville, Kentucky's award-winning 21c Museum Hotel, but will reflect Austin's famously laid-back lifestyle through an extraordinary approach to art-inspired life and commerce.
    
"Our goal is to blend a love of art, Texas-style comfort and 21st Century technology into a property that is uniquely Austin," Steve Wilson, Chairman of ACE (Art Commerce Entertainment) Unlimited, one of the development partners, said. "The driver here is art, in all its forms -- contemporary art by emerging and acclaimed regional and international artists; architecture of the finest caliber; and cuisine by true artisans in the culinary world."
    
A soaring, 44-story addition to Austin's burgeoning skyline will house 21c Austin and will be home to the project's 209-room hotel, 202 residential units, spa, pool, museum, restaurants and other amenities. The project, including an underground parking garage, will total 779,000 square feet and will represent a $200-million investment. Each room in the hotel will feature original works of art, contemporary furnishings and luxurious amenities.
    
The project will include an innovative and accessible restaurant that will emphasize local and sustainable agriculture and feature contemporary American cuisine. Michael Bonadies, CEO of ACE, was previously a founding partner of the New York-based Myriad Restaurant Group, which owns and operates such well-known restaurants as Tribeca Grill, Nobu and Rubicon. Bonadies was instrumental in the development of the 21c concept. "21c is an experience-based brand, with its exceptional blend of art, great food and fun surroundings," Bonadies said.
    
Some of 21c's most innovative aspects will be its artist lofts and new contemporary art museum. Twelve artists' lofts will be made available at favorable rental rates for living and studio space. The museum will provide a new venue for contemporary visual and performing arts. "We intend to partner with local arts groups and look forward to joining Austin's thriving arts community," Wilson said.
    
"Austin has seen a boom in condominium development, but the luxury condos of 21c will fill a particular niche that is completely new to this market and which we expect to be embraced by this innovative city, particularly at this one-of-a-kind site," said Steve Poe, President and CEO of the Poe Companies, a Louisville real estate investment, development and management firm.
    
The site is one of Austin's last under-developed downtown properties, just one block from the city's main street -- Congress Avenue -- and one block from the Austin Convention Center.
    
The team of architects for the project includes Deborah Berke & Partners (http://www.dberke.com), a New York-based firm with a portfolio of institutional, commercial and residential architecture; Goody Clancy Architecture (http://www.goodyclancy.com), a Boston firm that brings deep expertise in urban design and large scale urban residential projects to the table; and Susman Tisdale Gayle (http://www.stgarchitects.com), an Austin firm with an integrated approach to architecture, planning and interior design.
    
Other team members include REI Real Estate Partnerships, an Indiana firm led by Mike Wells, president; Austin-based Ironwood Real Estate, a partnership between local developers Matthew Hooks and Scot Krieger; and urbanspace Realtors, led by Kevin Burns, which specializes in marketing and leasing high-end residential and mixed-used properties in downtown Austin.
    
Members of the 21c Austin team have a successful track record of collaborating on development projects, including the $480-million, 62-story Museum Plaza, scheduled to begin construction in downtown Louisville in September, 2007.