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. Instead of a 29-story tower with hotel and condos, the developers will proceed with a scaled-back 16-story hotel on the site near the Shore in the southeast corner of downtown.

The Residences at the Hotel Van Zandt were to feature 55 units ranging in size from 1,400 to 5,200 square feet and ranging in cost from $500,000 to $2 million. As we have mentioned before, it’s a tough time to get financing for large condo projects and many of the projects that have been conceptualized but not yet broken ground may face cancellation. For buildings that are already under construction -- the Austonian, Spring, W Hotel & Residences, Four Seasons Residences, BartonPlace -- are all expected to be completed as planned.

THE ORIGINAL PLAN FOR THE HOTEL VAN ZANDT:


THE NEW PLAN FOR THE HOTEL VAN ZANDT:

Tags: news, hotel van zandt

Thirteen prime acres in the Rainey street neighborhood - the district between Red River and I-35 south of Cesar Chavez - are for sale in one of the largest downtown real estate offerings ever. The owners who assembled 20+ individual parcels including a large section along the lake are hoping that a master developer will purchase the land for dense multi-use development.

This would make sense as there are already multiple projects under way in the area including the Hotel Van Zandt. Shore Condos, the Mexican American Cultural Center, and the recently completed Milago condominiums. The area was recently rezoned for dense development and is a prime location for residential and hotel development. Additional retail, commercial, and entertainment projects would extend the traditional downtown boundaries and accelerate the shifting center of gravity further to the south.

The land is particularly attractive because the entire Rainey Street neighborhood is outside of existing Capital View Corridors that limit development. With the new zoning, it is a prime area for tall and dense new construction. However, a number of single family house owners continue to hold on to their parcels and may fight future requests for variances, which may add risk to the purchase and for any buyer who is looking to create a larger "master planned" district in the mold of the successful 2nd street district to the West.

Tags: market analysis, news, new projects, hotel van zandt, rainey street

As promised, a new section launched tonight that lists all known "Early Stage" Projects. The new section will include projects that have been announced and do not have enough information for a full profile. Today, the section lists 8 new projects with 2,500 units and total proposed budgets in excess of $1 billion.

In addition, two new projects were added to the Project Navigator:

The Residences at the Hotel Van Zandt and Bridges on the Park. Bridges on the Park is well on it's way -- construction started last year on South Lamar and is expected to be completed in 2007.

Tags: about austintowers, hotel van zandt, new projects

While the focus of AustinTowers is downtown high-rise residential development, there are a number of non-residential projects that will also help reshape downtown over the next few years. Here are a few:

W Hotel - The new W Hotel will anchor the $225 million "Block 21" project in the heart of the second street district. If it is like other W's, the upscale design-themed hotel's bar and lobby will likely prove to be a popular nightspot. Block 21 will also include 200 high-end condos, a Willie-Nelson owned nightclub, a new Austin Children's museum, new studios for the Austin City Limits TV program, and 50,000 square feet of street-level retail. The project is expected to be completed in 2009.

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Tags: new projects, news, block 21, hotel van zandt