four seasons residences

The Downtown Austin Blog is reporting that an amazing 40 units closed in May in the major new construction downtown projects.

Here are the reported May closings by building:

W Residences: 15 in May (Est. 51 now closed)
Barton Place: 12 in May (Est. 90 now closed)
Austonian: 4 in May (Est. 60 now closed)
Spring: 4 in May (Est. 208 now closed)
904 West Ave: 3 in May (Est. 6 now closed)
Four Seasons Residences: 2 in May (Est. 68 Closed)

According to the Austin Business Journal, sales at the newest downtown condo projects including W, the Austonian, the Four Seasons Residences, and Spring have accelerated in recent weeks with more than 30 closings in October for downtown condos

There are four downtown buildings -- Spring, the Four Seasons Residences, the Austonian, and the

Ten years ago, if you wanted to live downtown in Austin in a place with a nice pool, your options were slim.

Now, most of the new projects feature resort-like pools which are key selling points for the buildings. In the future, nice pools will likely be standard on new Austin condo buildings.

As the new generation of resort-like projects comes to fruition, it's possible that units in buildings without pools with sell at a discount when compared to units in buildings with this key amenity.

In downtown Austin, there are two classes of new condo projects.

Lorley Musiol, the new Director of Residences at the Four Seasons in Austin, captures an important intangible about downtown condo life when she states that "this is only a building.

It's going to take personality and a staff I'm hand-picking to make that building come to life."

In spite of the difficult economy, the major downtown Austin condo projects continue to move toward completion. Lots of news updates this week:

The developer of the 290 room Hotel Van Zandt and the 55 luxury Residences at the Hotel Van Zandt have announced that they are abandoning plans for the condo portion ofthe project.

When buying a condo in a project that is little more than an idea on paper, a hole in the ground, or a stubby concrete shell -- it takes some imagination to put real money down.

These days, this is the major challenge facing many of the downtown Austin condo sales centers as they try to sell units to prospective buyers.

Tonight, as the lucky future owners of 430 condo units at the 360 celebrate, the building has come alive with a 44-story vertical line culminating in a lit tower that is now the tallest structure in downtown Austin.

With a waiting list of 215 units, a list equal to 50% of the actual units in the building, the 360 has been an amazing success.

Novare, the developer, hit the perfect combination of early timing, a great location, and an affordably-priced units.