Feb. 03–A California developer Monday revealed plans for a 35-story tower in downtown Austin that will have 250 hotel rooms and 120 luxury condominiums.
The Kor Group, a real estate investment, development and management company based in Los Angeles, said it plans to start construction this year on the high-rise, called Austin Proper.
Austin Proper is one of the final pieces in a four-block redevelopment project that is transforming the former site of the city’s Thomas C. Green Water Treatment Plant into a mixed-use project.
One final block that has yet to be developed will likely include a residential project atop retail space, officials said.
Designed by Handel Architects of San Francisco, the hotel/condo tower is scheduled to open in late 2017. It will have two rooftop swimming pools with outdoor dining and lounge areas; a ground level restaurant and bar; a gym and spa; and meeting and event spaces.
The condos will be available for sale starting this summer, according to the Kor Group, which recently opened an office in Austin.
“We love Austin and see significant opportunity here,” Brian De Lowe, principal at the Kor Group, said in a written statement.
The Proper Hotels chain was founded in January, targeting “emerging urban innovation districts” in several U.S. cities. Aside from Austin, locations are planned for Brooklyn, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The hotel/condo tower will be the third building on the 4.4-acre site by Trammell Crow Co., the firm the city selected in 2008 for the redevelopment project.
“Kor brings a fresh perspective on hotel development that incorporates the individuality and creativity of a boutique hotel with the high level of service and design that people expect in a downtown location,” said Adam Nims, a principal with Trammell Crow Co. in Austin. “We believe Austin Proper will be a great complement the overall project while adding a unique amenity to the downtown community.”
Fred Evins, the city’s lead project manager for the Green Water redevelopment, said the hotel/condo tower along with additional street-level retail “supports the city’s goal of creating a dense mixed-use development that increases downtown vitality.”
The city estimates turning the former industrial site into a new mixed-use hub will generate about $112 million in property taxes over 30 years.
Elsewhere on the site, a three-tiered tower _ to be called Northshore _ is under construction that will bring 440 apartment units to market when it opens late this year. An adjacent 29-story office tower broke ground recently. The office tower, just south of Ballet Austin’s offices, will have almost 490,000 square feet of office space, plus restaurant and retail space.
Trammell Crow Co. is not disclosing the cost of the office tower, the Austin Proper high-rise or the overall development. A previous estimate put the entire project’s cost at $500 million.
Trammell Crow is purchasing the Green Water site in phases from the city for $42.4 million. The redevelopment is one of the largest mixed-use projects under way downtown.
Austin Proper will join several residential projects either under construction or planned for downtown. A 280-unit condo tower is under construction nearby at the site of the former Seaholm Power Plant. An even larger project is planned adjacent to Trammell Crow’s project, where the Austin Energy Control Center formerly was located.
In addition to condos, downtown also is adding more than 4,000 hotel rooms _ including a pair of large convention hotels.
The 1,012-room JW Marriott opens next week at East Second Street and Congress Avenue, while the 1,066-room Fairmont Austin at East Cesar Chavez and Red River streets is expected to follow in mid 2017. In between, the Hotel Van Zandt will debut, along with hotels affiliated with the Aloft, Element, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Hotel ZaZa, Hyatt House and Westin brands, among others.
Hotel occupancy in the downtown Austin area hovered around 80 percent on average in 2014, according to STR, a travel research firm. Citywide, the average occupancy was about 70 percent. Both figures rank among the highest in the nation, which has helped draw new hoteliers to the market.
