Austin Real Estate Blog

As people become more aware of impending climate change and near-future energy crunches, land developers are finding innovative ways to create communities with more sustainability and less impact on the environment. An article in the magazine, Natural Home, highlights a new community in Austin, Texas, as one of these green-built innovations.Renovated from the old municipal airport, Mueller Airport Project mixed-use urban village utilizes the latest in environmentally friendly design. The community has its own power-generating plant, recreation, entertainment and shopping, as well as transit and employment.

Self-sustainability is just one aspect of this village. Recycling and reusing is prevalent: old runway materials are converted to street construction, old hangars are disassembled and reused in new building, historic buildings are converted into public spaces. Homes are built with non-toxic and recyclable materials, and plenty of open green spaces and waterways have been incorporated into the plan.

The residential buildings of the Mueller Project include a wide variety of living arrangements. From single-family dwellings to condominiums, the village offers an option for nearly every lifestyle. For-sale home prices range from $100K to the $600Ks for attached and detached homes. An apartment complex is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2008 and will feature 10-foot ceilings, two swimming pools and a fitness center.

Catellus, the developer of the Mueller project, has 20 years of land redevelopment experience and has transformed old airports, industrial complexes, and abandoned military bases into such communities - self-contained, sustainable, and environmentally friendly villages. Termed New Urbanism, the designs are actually based on traditional old European villages, where retail, living, and recreation space was located within walking distance.

Mueller Airport Project stands as a model for the urban development of the future and points toward one solution to increasing energy crises.

Here’s another possible case of someone with money and power (and in this case a whole lotta time) filing a lawsuit against someone because they don’t like what that person thinks. Yep, the excerpt below from the Miami Herald, summarizes the lawsuit that a developer filed against a real estate agent who blogged about his opinion of a development. The broker, in typical broker fashion, immediately dumped the agent and said they only want to show the positive news. If I were a client at that broker, I’d be out the door faster than (something really fast).

I for one hope the EFF or some other similar entity helps this poor agent out. He doesn’t deserve a guy using the American legal system as a weapon. See how others have abused our legal system for their own twisted often narcissistic purposes at www.iamlawsuitabuse.org. Suppor the Electronic Frontier Foundation and bloggers’ rights.

Realtor fired over Hollo blog post
BY PATRICK DANNER

Developer Tibor Hollo has filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against a Miami real estate agent who blogged that the octogenarian went bankrupt in the 1980s and is headed for a fall with the upheaval in the condo market.

Hollo last week sued agent Lucas Lechuga and the Coral Gables brokerage Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell alleging they have engaged in a smear campaign against him and his Opera Tower condo development on Lechuga’s Miami Condo Investments blog.

On Monday, the postings cost Lechuga his job.

”We just don’t condone making statements, especially negative statements, about anyone, so we have terminated our relationship with our associate,” said EWM President Ron Shuffield. Its agents are independent contractors, not employees.

Lechuga, 29, predicted on the blog that at least half of the buyers in the 635-unit Opera Tower at 1750 Bayshore Drive would default and the units would be taken over the project’s lender.

”My opinion is that this development is doomed,” he wrote on Jan. 10.

That followed this Nov. 25 post: “This developer went bankrupt in the 1980’s and I think we’ll see a repeat performance within the next 6 months. What do I know, though? I’m no real estate oracle.”

An angry Hollo said neither he nor any of his companies ever filed for bankruptcy.

”I guess when you’re running a blog [you] think [you] can say anything about anybody, and that’s just not true,” Hollo said. He called the postings “plain, unadulterated lies.”

The suit was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Hollo declined to say how he arrived at the $25 million damage claim.

Lechuga said he was exercising his constitutional rights in musing about Opera Tower.

”Like any other blog out there, it’s a collection of my unbiased opinions and thoughts,” he said. “I have buyers all over the world who go to my blog. They know I’m not going to sugarcoat the market.”

Lechuga removed the Nov. 25 post after learning of the lawsuit, but later reposted it without the reference to Hollo going ”bankrupt.” He said he would have removed it sooner had he known it was wrong. He said a few people who told him about it may not have meant Hollo literally filed for bankruptcy, rather that Hollo had financial troubles of some kind.

…
”Courts understand [blogs] are written in unedited, unvetted fashion,” Jarvis said. “There’s a lot of hyperbole. That’s why it’s so difficult to win defamation lawsuits.”

Plus, Jarvis said Lechuga could argue Hollo is a ”limited public figure” — making it harder for Hollo to claim he was defamed.

…

I’ve got to say the whole time the boom was going on in the last 18 months and our developments were selling out as fast as we could build them, I still felt that the downtwon market was being overbuilt. As Neal mentions in the excerpt below, the jobs in dowtown Austin are just not numerous enough or well paying enough (given all the state and local government jobs) to support the amount of $300+/sq ft condos going up. Some of these condos have MONTHLY HOA fees in excess of $600. That’s the cost of a $100k mortgage on a home.

Needless to say, there is bound to be some number of folks who get burned by the glut. If you’re in the market for a downtown condo, make sure you strike a good deal. You might be facing a lot of competition from the new builders if you decide to sell in the next 3 years.

Excerpt from the Neal Spelce Austin Letter.

Despite the mantra being heard of “live and work downtown,” Austin traffic patterns could change dramatically once the surge in downtown high-rise condo construction nears completion and occupancies reach saturation.

The problem is simple. Currently there are not enough jobs in the downtown area to support full occupancy of the new high-rise condos and apartment buildings that are nearing completion. And the pace of job creation in the downtown area is not yet vigorous enough to meet that demand, should the demand materialize. So, living downtown and walking to work may not be possible for hundreds of residents in the Central Business District.

What does this mean? Well, it means that many of those who rush to live downtown will find themselves part of a new traffic pattern during rush hour. You might call it a reverse commute. Cars will start streaming out of the downtown area to places of employment at the same time cars are converging on the downtown area from the suburbs and other neighborhoods.

This potential alteration is based on the assumption that downtown living units will be occupied at a reasonably fast clip (as owners, developers and lenders are hoping!!!). With that assumption, the only thing that could stem this traffic pattern change would be for more major employers to move into the downtown area. These major employers would need to pay a higher-than-average wage so their employees could afford these new units. So far, not many major employers have rushed to acquire pricey downtown space for their companies.

Remember, the majority of the employees in the downtown area right now draw government paychecks; they don’t fit the target profile for the new condo and apartment marketers. When the day is done, they head to their living units in the less expensive parts of town. It will be interesting to watch this develop as our downtown undergoes dramatic changes.

As a real estate professional, I do a lot to stay on top of the ever changing trends in housing, finance, legislation, and especially green living. One of the magazines that I subscribe to is Natural Home. It’s a pretty cool magazine with quality writing and good coverage. If you are interested in natrual living, green building, eco-friendly lifestyles, I highly recommend that you check the magazine out.

The latest issue named Austin’s Mueller (pronounced Miller) redevelopment project one of the magazine’s top 10 eco-friendly communities. It’s good to see that Austin is taking the lead in the green revolution. If you have any green stories, please share them and I’ll post them here. Below is an excerpt from the article. You can read the full article at Natural Home.

Natural Home Top 10: Eco-friendly Neighborhoods

By Laurel Kalenbach

Our picks for the nation’s best green housing developments emphasize communities working toward sustainability by incorporating green building, energy efficiency and reuse of previously developed land. Several are enrolled in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) programs such as LEED for Neighborhoods (LEED-ND) or LEED for Homes. (For more on LEED-ND, see page 23). Our 10 favorites are listed alphabetically by city.

Austin, Texas
Mueller

The old municipal airport—just minutes from the University of Texas and downtown—is a 711-acre redevelopment with homes, shops, businesses, restaurants, an elementary school and parks. Austin Energy is certifying all buildings to high efficiency.
www.MuellerAustin.com

• Green options for homes, including tankless water heaters, programmable thermostats, solar panels
• Graywater reused for low-water, native landscaping
• 25 percent of housing for lower-income owners or renters Hangars reused as info centers and possible entertainment venue
• Anticipated LEED Platinum status for Dell Children’s Medical Center and Ronald McDonald House

Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Greenbridge

With 98 residential condominiums, street-level retail, renewable building materials, planted roofs, and solar hot water and electricity, Greenbridge is a downtown revitalization project promoting human and ecological health.
www.GreenbridgeDevelopments.com

Denver, Colorado
Stapleton

A former airport site, Stapleton is the largest urban-infill redevelopment project in the United States, with 4,700 acres of reclaimed land just 10 minutes from downtown. Six million tons of runway concrete were reused to make bike paths and bridges. The development is in the LEED-ND pilot program.
www.StapletonDenver.com

Grayslake, Illinois
Prairie Crossing

Committed to minimizing its impact on the environment, this suburban community preserves 60 percent of its 677 acres as prairie, wetlands and organic farmland. It also has 359 single-family houses, 36 condos, many shops, a café and commuter trains to Chicago. Prairie Crossing’s Station Village is in the LEED-ND pilot program.
www.PrairieCrossing.com

Issaquah, Washington
Issaquah Highlands

This 2,240-acre urban village east of Seattle in the Cascade Mountain foothills balances green space and trails with homes, townhouses, multifamily buildings and an elementary school. The community is building 3.9 million square feet of LEED-certified commercial and retail space.
www.IssaquahHighlands.com

North Charleston, South Carolina
Navy Yard at Noisette

Located on the former Charleston Naval Base, this 340-acre brownfield redevelopment will house 7,000 families and become part of the city’s sustainable urban revitalization. All structures are built to a minimum LEED Silver standard.
www.NavyYardSC.com

Portland, Oregon
Helensview

This high-density, low- to moderate-incoming housing neighbor- hood in northeast Portland is being developed by a nonprofit that helps renters become homeowners. It will have 53 single-family houses and condos that qualify for LEED for Homes and LEED-ND programs.
www.HostDevelopment.com

Salem, Oregon
Pringle Creek Community

Located on 32 acres of redeveloped land, this community integrates 130 carbon-neutral/net-zero-energy residences—including single- and multi-family houses, cottages, row houses and apartments—with LEED-certified retail, work spaces, parks and community buildings.
www.PringleCreek.com

Seattle, Washington
High Point

This neighborhood replaces a rundown public-housing project. The new High Point mixes subsidized and market-rate homes and includes a health clinic, library, grocery store and parks. Its natural drainage system has native plants and swales that filter and divert stormwater to protect a salmon stream.
www.TheHighPoint.com

Staten Island, New York
Markham Gardens

This 13-acre, 290-unit revitalization of World War II public-housing includes 240 apartments and duplexes for low-income renters and 50 affordable housing units. It’s on track for LEED Silver certification.
www.PrattCenter.net/arch-markhamgardens.php