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View of downtown Austin from Lady Bird Lake. (Andrea Guzmán/Austonia)
The skyline and other parts of Austin will see some changes this year with new developments set to open.
From tech giants set to welcome workers to housing for UT students, these are some projects to look out for in 2022.
Block 185 | 601 W. 2nd Street
After about three years in the works, Google workers are expected to take over Austin’s tallest office tower. It is slated to be complete in May. Plus, we'll see Uchi's newest restaurant Uchibā take post in the building.
The sailboat-inspired downtown building is expected to stand at 594 feet. Also included is a creekside tenant amenity, retail space and a boardwalk. The tower will also feature outdoor roof areas for prime views of Lady Bird Lake.
Apple Campus | West Parmer Lane and Dallas Drive
Thirty years since Apple first established a presence in Austin, the company is set to deepen its roots with a $1 billion campus in Northwest Austin. Apple has previously said employees will start reporting to the campus sometime this year, though COVID-19 has caused delays to in-person work.
The 133-acre campus, near its office on West Parmer Lane, includes 2 million square feet of office space, a 192 room hotel and space to bring in 5,000 employees.
Waterloo Central tower | 701 E. 5th Street
In July 2020, Hippo Analytics, a California-based property insurance company that uses AI and big data to analyze property information, signed a lease at the five-story office tower.
With a curtain wall glass design taking up 39,000 square feet, this project is expected to be completed sometime in Q2.
Moody Center | 2001 Robert Dedman Dr.
In replacement of the Frank Erwin Center, this $338 million arena will be able to seat 10,000 for Texas Longhorn basketball games and up to 5,000 more for other events. It will make its official debut in April.
The arena takes its name from the Moody Foundation, which gave $130 million toward construction.
Concerts have already been booked, including a first performance by John Mayer and a George Strait and Willie Nelson show. Click here for scheduled events so far.
Waterloo West Campus tower | 2400 Seton Ave.
With 241 units spanning 30 stories, the $77.6 million student housing complex in West Campus will be the tallest tower in the neighborhood at 300 feet. An exact completion date has not been announced.
Lincoln Ventures, the Austin-based developers behind the plan, have said 20% of units will be affordable housing with the remainder going at the market rate. The building will include amenities fit for college students, including conference rooms, a rooftop terrace with a fitness center and a complimentary coffee bar.
RiverSouth tower | 401 S. First St.
Stream signs powerhouse law firm as the first tenant for its signature Austin project, RiverSouth. International law firm Baker Botts has signed a 12-year lease to assume 50,000 square feet of the 350,611 square-foot office tower. http://bit.ly/rs-bakerbotts\u00a0pic.twitter.com/1RhiQqaa4D— Stream Realty Partners (@Stream Realty Partners) 1559597880
Located at the intersections of South First Street, West Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road, this 15-story office building will be finished next month and start move-ins in May. Taking up 17,000 square feet, it includes an underground parking and bike storage, a fitness center and a lounge with skyline views.
The developer, Stream, said the leasing demand “has been nothing short of remarkable.” Already, 50% of the building is pre-leased to tenants such as AlertMedia and some Austin-based businesses.
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A $6,000 cockatoo named Lemon Grab was stolen from a pet store Sunday afternoon, owner Kelsey Fernandez said. (Kelsey Fernandez)
A big-money bird has been stolen from a northwest Austin pet store.
Kelsey Fernandez, the owner of a $6,000 sulphur and citron-crested cockatoo named Lemon Grab, said the emotional support animal was taken from the Gallery of Pets store, around closing time on Sunday.
"I've struggled with mental illness my entire life, and ever since I got him I've been doing so much better," Fernandez told Austonia.
The $6k cockatoo is young and will starve unless he is fed by hand, Fernandez said.
In a surveillance video, a man appears to have something under his shirt as he and two others exit the business around the same time the store believes that Lemon Grab was stolen.
Fernandez said a report has been filed with the Austin Police Department with an $1,000 reward for his return.
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(Pexels)
Introverts and personal space lovers may not want to make the move to Austin anytime soon: The Texas capital saw a bigger increase in one-bedroom rent prices than almost any other U.S. city in April, according to a Rent.com report.
Austin's one-bedroom rent has more than doubled—a 112% increase—from April 2021 to 2022, the report said. Only Oklahoma City saw a higher year-over-year increase with a 133% jump.
Austin also had the fourth-highest increase in two-bedroom rent, with a 50% increase in the past year. The city joined a nationwide trend where rents were up 8.3% year-over-year across the U.S, a trend exacerbated by a 6.2% increase in inflation in the same time period.
But "not everyone is experiencing inflation the same way," Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr said in the report, and a brunt of the load has gone to cities with more move-ins. While over 90% of state rental markets increased in the last year, that jump was seen most in Sun Belt states, including Texas, Arizona and Florida.
Even with breakneck increases in rent, however, Austin's rent prices still haven't cracked the top 10: the city's one-bedroom apartments are the 12th most expensive in the nation with an average price of $2,918. Meanwhile, its two-bedrooms fall behind Texas cities Frisco, Dallas and Plano and come out 34th on the list with a $2,302 average monthly rent.
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