The NY Times used to ****ing hate Texas. They portrayed us as backward neanderthals in every story. Now they can't stop with the positive attention. I sortof wish they'd go back to hating us.

There is a ton of development going on downtown though. A ton.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/reales....

Quote:

The combination of a diversifying business center and Austin’s renowned entertainment scene has recently drawn an influx of young and highly educated workers downtown.

To meet their housing needs, about 500 apartments are under construction and several developers are poised to begin construction on other residential projects. But apartment buildings are not the full extent of this downtown resurgence. Several hotels are under construction, and there are plans for at least two substantial office towers and multiple mixed-use projects.

The city’s central business district has about 1,500 residential condominium units and 1,500 rental apartments, according to Capitol Market Research, a real estate consulting firm here. Downtown living has proved remarkably popular, with a rental occupancy rate of almost 97 percent, nearly equal to the citywide rate of 97.8 percent, according to Capitol Market Research.

Landlords are raking in profits: The citywide average monthly apartment rental rate of $1.10 a square foot is the highest in the state, and downtown apartment rents are more than twice the city average, according to Charles H. Heimsath, president of Capitol Market Research.

Riverside Resources, a developer here, is midway through construction of Third and Brazos, a 277-unit apartment project just a block east of Congress Avenue, which runs north-south through the center of downtown.

Gables Residential is digging the foundation for Gables Park Plaza II, which is planned as a 222-unit, 18-story apartment building eight blocks west of Congress and overlooking Lady Bird Lake, a center of activity for runners and boaters.

Several other developers are prepared to begin multifamily construction in the heart of downtown, which is bound by the lake on its southern edge and the Capitol building to the north. Its general boundary on the east is Interstate 35 and on the west is MoPac Boulevard.

Hotel development is heating up as well. White Lodging Services, a corporation in Indiana, is building a 1,012-room JW Marriott convention hotel, scheduled to open in 2015. Closer to the Austin Convention Center, Manchester Texas Financial Group plans to break ground next year on a 1,000-room Fairmont Austin hotel. The 300-room Hyatt Place Hotel is under construction one block west of the convention center.

The West Sixth Street entertainment district has emerged organically in the last decade on the western edge of downtown, near the Whole Foods world headquarters and flagship store. Some bars and restaurants in this submarket generate $700 to $1,000 a square foot in annual sales, according to Nate Paul, president and chief executive at World Class Capital Group here.

“Those numbers are similar to what you see in some of the biggest markets in the nation,” said Mr. Paul, whose company recently bought several Austin properties including the former Katz’s Deli building at 618 West Sixth Street. “Austin is the most desirable city in the fastest growing state in the nation,” Mr. Paul said. “Demand is outpacing supply for nearly every asset type downtown.”

Office buildings will soon join the party. Endeavor Real Estate Group, based here, plans to develop the 195,000-square-foot IBC Bank Plaza at 500 West Fifth Street. Cousins Properties, based in Atlanta, is planning a larger project, the 390,000-square-foot Third and Colorado, a few blocks away.

Jota, they are just cherry picking as an example of how well Obama's policies have worked for the economy. Of course they could have been unbiased and showed Detroit as well.

I have extremely mixed feelings about what is going on in Austin right now. I liked it back when it was on the verge of success, back around 1994-1996. It was still cheap to live here and was like what you see in the movie Slacker. Now-a-days it looks like a Texas version of Redmond, WA or Seattle.

The city is very strategically located in regards to globalist plans for the North American Union. It sits on I-35 (i.e. NAFTA Route-1), is the state capitol of the largest exporting state in the union, located right in the middle of MexAmerica. Austin is at the crossroads of Mexico, America's heartland and also the Eastern USA. It's also a very aesthetically pleasing place to live. As far as the globalists are concerned, Austin is at the center of their NAU map. That has obvious implications for the large scale development and investment you are going to see occur in nearby Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Travis counties over the next 20-30 years.

To me and other Austinites, that means jobs and the associated prosperity. But it also means old Austin will be overrun by the sprawl. And the jet setters and their ilk will come, who couldn't be more different than the redneck hippies from Willie and Janis's generation that made this town cool in the first place.

What worries me is the water situation.

No one has any real "plans" and everyone wants to expand, but keep the green lawns.

Can't make Double-Chai-lattes with*****, ya know.

Weezie wrote..

Personally, I'm tired of voting for ketchup or mustard on the **** sandwich.

Can't make Double-Chai-lattes with*****, ya know.

Weezie, you're killin' me!

Anectdotal info?:
Jota any awareness of increase of CA,NV license plates?
BRV

Out of state plates are all over the ****ing place. It's been that way for about 3 years. Austin is about a 7 hour drive from any bordering state, so all these people don't just get here by accident.

NYT is doing its level best to pollute Austin with Unicorn **** fanatics, spreading the leech**** mentality wherever hints of prosperity still exist is a worthy goal for the true believers.

Quote:

I have extremely mixed feelings about what is going on in Austin right now. I liked it back when it was on the verge of success, back around 1994-1996. It was still cheap to live here and was like what you see in the movie Slacker. Now-a-days it looks like a Texas version of Redmond, WA or Seattle.

I hear you, my friend. Same thing happened to Portland.

What's the rest of that saying about keeping Texas Texas and keeping Austin weird?

I dunno, but I'm about to sell this place and move into a trailer down by the river.

Well, you could grow your hair and beard out, get a bike, roll around in a thong and run for mayor every so many years. Austin hasn't been the same since Leslie passed. It's a void to fill.