High-end downtown residential project set to move forward

With new partner, MetLife's 28-story apartment building is set to break ground in April.

BYLINE: Shonda Novak, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

DATE: January 20, 2006

PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman

With a new partner on board, MetLife Inc.'s 28-story apartment project in downtown Austin is set to break ground April 1, almost 18 months after the company originally planned to start the high-profile project.

The tower will be built at 101 Colorado St., a site now occupied by a drive-through bank. Yet to be named, the building will have 196 apartments plus six townhouses along West Cesar Chavez Street and will rise next to MetLife's 22-story office tower at Congress Avenue and Cesar Chavez. MetLife recently teamed up with The Hanover Company to design and build the project.

HKS Inc.

This preliminary rendering shows the 28-story housing complex, left, that MetLife and Hanover plan to build. The average apartment will have 1,400 square feet and rent for $2,800 a month.

If construction goes as planned, the first residents would arrive in mid-2008, the developers say.

"Downtown Austin is an attractive place for us to be," said John Calagna, a spokesman for New York-based MetLife. "We think the project fills a need for the neighborhood that is continuing to grow and change and expand."

MetLife's high-rise won't be the tallest of the more than a dozen residential or mixed-use projects in the pipeline for downtown; towers with 36, 40 and 41 stories also are planned. But like virtually all the condo and apartment projects built downtown in the past five years, MetLife's units come with a hefty price tag. The average-size unit will have 1,400 square feet and rent for about $2,800 a month.

Charles Heimsath, a local real estate consultant, said the market will support "very high rental rates if you've got a premier location such as this one," near Town Lake.

Originally expected to break ground in fall 2004, the project was delayed.

"When you're involved in a project this large, there are a lot of moving parts to it, and normally it takes longer than what you initially think it will," Calagna said.

Developers are awaiting final approvals from the city and a building permit to start construction but say the project is on track for an April start.

Specializing in luxury high-rise apartments, Houston-based Hanover has partnered with MetLife on other upscale projects in Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Denver and Atlanta. Hanover's involvement will catapult Austin's downtown living to the next tier, Heimsath said.

"Having Hanover do a signature project in downtown is like having Neiman Marcus go to the Domain," the upscale retail project being built in North Austin, Heimsath said. "It will be setting a threshold way above anything else that's been built in Austin to date."

One of MetLife and Hanover's showpiece projects is The Ashton in Dallas, where rents range from $1,799 for a one-bedroom unit with 914 square feet to $11,999 for a 3,319-square-foot penthouse. For the price, residents enjoy creature comforts that include a heated rooftop pool and health club and around-the-clock concierge and valet services.

On average, residents tends to be their 40s, though young professionals, empty-nesters and people who want to check out downtown living before buying also are drawn to these projects, said Ed Hamilton, managing regional partner for Hanover.

Matt Greene, who rents a 1,600-square-foot unit at The Ashton, said it's a good fit for busy professionals because of the amenities and the convenience that comes with living downtown.

"Everything's at your fingertips," said Greene, general manager of a luxury boutique hotel. With The Ashton's staffers doing everything from walking residents' dogs to delivering groceries and planning social activities, he said, "people are gladly willing to pay a premium if the services are there."

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Condo tower proposed on Congress Avenue

Benchmark project to include shops, offices.

BYLINE: Dan Zehr, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

DATE: January 14, 2006

PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman

Benchmark Land Development Inc. is joining the downtown crowd, with a proposed $50 million to $100 million mixed-use tower at the northwest corner of Second Street and Congress Avenue, one of the last large, open sites fronting downtown's main thoroughfare.

The high-rise would include 200 to 250 luxury condominiums, a spa, a fitness center, a pool and retail space along Congress and the Second Street Retail District, Benchmark Vice President David Mahn said.

The company hopes to select an architect by the end of March, Mahn said, and to begin construction sometime next year.

"Everything is pointing to more development downtown," Mahn said, "and that's exactly what we're going to do."

Benchmark has a lot of experience with residential development, although this will be its first high-rise project.

Its area projects include Plum Creek, a mixed-use, planned community in Kyle that's designed to feel more like a small town than a subdivision.

"We are going to design this (high-rise) as a luxury project," Mahn said.

He declined to give a price range for the condominiums but said "it will be in upper tier of price range for this kind of condominium project."

Benchmark's project is one of nine residential projects under way or planned downtown, which has seen a surge of new apartment and condo developments in the last several years.

Benchmark will ask the city for a variance to the Central Business District zoning regulations, which cap a building's square footage at eight times the area of the land on which it rests.

Without the variance, the rules would limit Benchmark's plans to about 232,000 square feet.

"It's a very appropriate location to consider a variance, given the fact that mayor has come out with statement he wants 25,000 residential units in the downtown area," Charles Heimsath, president of Capitol Market Research Inc., said. "Simple math would suggest if you're going to try to achieve that goal, you're going to have to do a lot of tall buildings."

Putting a high-rise along Congress would be ideal because it wouldn't block any of the Capitol view corridors, he said.

Benchmark acquired roughly a third of the block bounded by Congress Avenue and Second, Colorado and Third streets. It purchased the land from Cypress Real Estate Advisors Inc. in December.

The site previously belonged to John and Jeff Wooley, who held the entire block through a combination of long-term lease and ownership. The site includes the previous headquarters of the Schlotzsky's restaurant chain that the Wooleys once ran.

Schlotzsky's failed to make a $40,000 rent payment to the Wooleys on Aug. 1, 2004, two days before the company filed for bankruptcy. Wells Fargo & Co. foreclosed on its loan to the Wooleys, who sold the land to Cypress about two months later to avoid foreclosure.

The new project will abut the Austin Children's Museum and add to the growth of the Second Street Retail District.

"The Second Street Retail District, as it's evolving, will support a higher-end residential project such as one being proposed (by Benchmark)," Heimsath said.

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