Some of the main architects of the city’s fledgling Economic Development Corporation assured members of the local real estate and development community Wednesday that the entity was not created to interfere with or compete for private sector business deals. That was one of the messages at the monthly virtual breakfast meeting organized by the Urban […]
Urban Land Institute
Posted inRoads
ULI, Downtown Alliance tout cap-and-stitch design for I-35
A panel at the Urban Land Institute of Austin’s monthly breakfast on Wednesday discussed the cap-and-stitch model for Interstate 35. Groups like ULI and the Downtown Austin Alliance are behind an I-35 redesign that would cap the highway with parks and open space and provide amenities like bike lanes and wider sidewalks to stitch the […]
Posted inPlanning
ULI proposes affordability-centered upgrade to transit-oriented development
Housing costs in Austin are skyrocketing, bringing the average home sale price from $179,250 in 2010 up to nearly $385,000 this year. Factor in the transportation costs of car ownership, and median income isn’t even close to keeping up with the increase. A new report from Urban Land Institute Austin proposes a partial solution to […]
Posted inDevelopment
ULI panel explores the lessons of transit-oriented development
With transit-oriented developments likely to become more prevalent as Austin relies more on mass transit in the coming years, the planners and builders involved in their creation are confronted with the issues of affordability, displacement and appropriate economic incentives. Those were some of topics discussed at a recent panel discussion about TOD opportunities sponsored by Urban […]
Posted inRoads
City forms team to ensure equity with I-35 cap-and-stitch
As the Texas Department of Transportation moves ahead with plans to expand Interstate 35 under the Capital Express project, the city has joined the effort to use the giant construction project as an opportunity to help minority communities recover from the damage the interstate has done to East Austin since the 1950s. The city has […]
Posted inRoads
Planning nonprofit suggests stitching Austin back together over I-35
With last week’s announcement of funding to improve Interstate 35 through Central Austin, the Downtown Austin Alliance is inviting the community to gather around a vision for a more ambitious plan. Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of Downtown Austin Alliance, said the organization aims to take advantage of the state’s investments in infrastructure for I-35, […]
Posted inRoads
Panel will look at future of development and displacement along I-35
A panel of national experts convened by the Urban Land Institute will look at ideas next week for how Austin could steer development plans for the land surrounding – and possibly covering – Interstate 35 in the years to come. The nine-member panel will spend the week touring the area along I-35 from Cesar Chavez […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Red tread redemption?
Red dawn(s again)… Austin Transportation and the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority are partnering up this month to add more red lanes – or “fresh Elmo,” as they’re called by transit advocates – to the city’s central transit spine. Beginning last week, work crews are painting existing bus priority lanes red on Lavaca and Guadalupe streets […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
ULI panel pushes real estate partnerships to help preserve, create arts spaces
With creative businesses and artists all over the city facing displacement issues caused by rising property values, the time is coming for the local real estate and development community to find ways to mix arts and music uses into new mixed-use construction. That was the message Wednesday at the Urban Land Institute’s monthly breakfast series, […]
Posted inAustin
Austin’s opportunity zones expected to see increased investment, development in 2020
Real estate professionals and the investment community expect development activity to increase in the 21 census tracts in the Austin area that qualify as federal opportunity zones. Those zones, created as part of the 2017 federal tax cut, were designed to promote investment in distressed communities and adjacent tracts by allowing investors to reduce or […]
Posted inHousing
ULI sees progress on affordability, with drawbacks, in latest LDC draft
Urban Land Institute Austin has weighed in on the draft Land Development Code, with a white paper that asserts the city’s proposed changes in housing types, design standards and affordable housing programs won’t go far enough to add enough new housing to make the city more affordable. The paper, which was released earlier this month, […]
Posted inPlanning
Plans for city’s East Austin parcel show possibilities under affordability programs
A pair of development proposals created as an exercise for the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization, shows what’s possible as the city looks to use its idle properties and a mix of new development and financing tools to expand affordable housing. In one, a community kitchen and food production incubator serve […]