hotel residences

Over the last ten years, the Austin metropolitan area population has grown by 500,000 people.

Over the last three years, 100,000 more people have moved to Austin than have left the city. In 2008 alone, the Austin population increased by more than 60,000 people.

The W Austin Hotel and Residences is an important project for downtown Austin. It's located at the heart of the emerging Second Street District.

It's a $300 million multi-use project including a much-needed hotel, a prominent condo project, retail, and entertainment.

It's the home of the new Austin City Limits studio.

As the W Hotel & Residences continues to rise, the developers have been busy creating new renderings of the high visibility second street project.

The renderings look great -- in fact, they make you wonder how they produce renderings this good for a building that does not yet exist.

Stratus Properties, the developer of the W Hotel & Residences in the 2nd street district, is facing delisting from the NASDAQ for failure to promptly file financial reports.

According to the developers, plans for Block 21 -- the large second street development featuring the W Hotel & Residences -- have been revised to include 35,000 feet of office space.

Assuming that the size of the project remains the same, office space will account for about 3.5% of the planned one million square foot multi-use project.

This is the first new office space to be added downtown in a few years

The project update also included the following new facts:

- The W Hotel & Condo plans remain unchanged.

The national real estate markets are a mess. The economy is in recession, credit is very tight, jumbo rates remain high.

While the Austin market has stayed alive -- and actually thrived compared to the rest of the country -- it is a very tough time to be selling real estate.

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.

One of the most common questions asked by first time condo buyers -- especially in Austin where the popularity of condos is rapidly on the rise -- is how much individual buildings charge in monthly condo fees.

Earlier this month, the developers of the W Hotel & Residences announced successful funding of the project and immediately broke ground on the 165 condo unit and luxury hotel project.

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.