MOMARK's Beauties

The Austonian

After lunch, we walked the two blocks to The Austonian where we met Mr. Terry Mitchell in the lobby.  He proceeded to tell us a little about the history of the project from the developer’s side.  The catalyst for most decisions was their definition of “Luxury.”  It amounted to four overriding aspects; finishes, size, exclusivity, and privacy.  Ideas of including a hotel and restaurant components were rejected as options, because of the lack of exclusivity and privacy if they were to be included.  Approximately 6 floors of office space were removed from the project and replaced with an above ground parking garage for the tenants and one level below for guests and the public; decreasing the estimated construction costs.  The building is expected to receive a 4 star green building rating from the Austin municipal power company, equivalent to approximately LEED Gold status.

The project is 683 feet and 56 stories tall, tallest in Austin, 42,00o total square feet, with about 166-168 condominiums.  The views from the upper floors are absolutely stunning.  Some of the amenities included are, a private club house on the 55^th floor, a workout facility on the 56^th, a lap pool, spa with massage rooms, a private theater, conference room, sports bar, a dog park, and even 4 separate suites for guests of the tenants (the latter for a small fee).  The units were spacious, bordering on ridiculously huge, with great finishes.  The typical buyers are more affluent empty nesters and those looking for a second (or fifth) home in Austin to visit family or for business or UT sports.     

Overall, I think everyone was pleased with this tour.  Personally, I was a little surprised how cool the project really was and how well the tour went.  Mr. Mitchell loved showing this building off, as can be deduced by the more than 2 hours he spent showing us around.   

Chestnut Commons

Chestnut Commons, another MOMARK project is an$11.5 million, 64 unit development in east Austin near the MLK, Jr. metro rail station.  This project includes 32 individual (detached) single family cottages and 32 one bedroom flats, above single car garages.  The demographics are younger professionals, some with families, and college students.  Each one bedroom flat is above two separated, one car garages.  This allows a resident a safer entry directly from their car into the attached unit above. Because of the safer entry, single women predominantly have been the purchasers or inhabitants of these flats.

The land was once a Featherlite, Inc. precast concrete industrial plant, but was sold once the manufacturer moved.  The new owners, Tom and Lynn Meredith, purchased the site and other adjacent properties, 30 acres total, between Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and 13^th Street.  The Merediths’ intent was to improve the existing neighborhood without pricing the current residents out of their homes, philanthropic effort.  Teaming up with MOMARK Development and Benchmark Development a plan was formed to build low to moderately priced housing.  But the cost of site work caused the overall project cost to increase above the necessary developer return if built as only affordable housing.  The site had large pieces of concrete hidden beneath the surface that had to be crushed and replaced on site adding to the total project cost, approximately $20,000 per unit.

So instead of low to moderate housing, a deal was reached between the land owners, two developers, and Austin Community Foundation where the homes would now be middle income units.  The land was donated to the community organization and then sold to the developers for the appraised value, $450,000.  This deal must have included another stipulation, where 50% of the sales proceeds above the 20% investor/developer’s return would go to the surrounding community as well.  When all was said and done, a check for approximately $1.2 million was donated to help fund neighborhood improvements and eventually new low to moderately priced housing.  These neighborhood improvements include an earmarked $250,000 for renovations to individual homes, much of that will benefit elderly home owners.

Sales prices of the individual units increased over time, with starting prices of $140,000 for the flats and $220,000 for the cottages.  However, the last 12 units had to see a slight price drop in order for the whole project to sell out.

There are tentative plans for the parcel along MLK, Jr. Blvd to be 4 (I think) structures with 4 unit residences each and ground floor retail.  This will be built in phases as demand sees fit.  Currently the building being constructed directly behind Chestnut Commons is for a non-profit.

Chestnut Commons is a great case study on how new development can work to not displace existing neighborhood residents when property values increase because of the new development.  Besides Chestnut Commons being charitable, I would call it a socially responsible development.