April 1, 2008

Just announced this morning, Walmart has their sights set on yet another central Austin location. In addition to the Northcross location at Anderson Lane and Burnet Road, a new store at 42nd and Guadeloupe is set to open in the summer of 2009. Plans are currently underway to purchase 32 homes in the vicinity which will be demolished in order to make way for Hyde Park superstore. In order to keep neighbors happy, this Walmart will include a roof-top park and swimming pool as well as an in-store Starbucks.

Neighbors have mixed emotions about welcoming the mega-retailer into their quaint Hyde Park neighborhood. Chelsie Howard, a resident of the neighborhood, welcomes the store saying “Traffic is so horrible in Austin, having a Walmart in Hyde Park will enable residents to get out of their cars and walk, run, or bike to a store stocked with all of their needs.” The store is expected to boost Austin’s economy by 3.4% by 2012.

Walmart chose this location after other retailers, like the Walgreens at 45th and Guadelupe, reported booming business and even nation-wide sales records. This store will be the 5,784th in the nation and will stout the title of “Greenest Walmart in the U.S.” with energy saving features such as roof-topsolar panels powering fluorescent lighting. The store’s plans include selling excess solar power back to the city at 7.8 cents per kw hour as a way of “giving back” to Austin’s community.

(image from PRNewser)

To read the complete press release, click here.

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April 10th, 2008 - Update

This post is receiving so much traffic, I thought I’d make sure everyone notices the date of April 1st on the post.  There’s no need to email me in a panic, this is an APRIL FOOLS post!  It’s been fun, but don’t worry because there are no plans to put a Walmart in Hyde Park.  There are, however, plans for a Walmart at Burnet Road and Anderson land in the Northcross Mall shopping area.

For information on the Northcross Wallmart, check out the developer’s site and (of course) an Austinist post on the outrage caused by the plans.

Tags: austin, building, carbon footprint, development, downtown, economy, green, green energy, groceries by Aria
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Hot off the press, the Austin-American Statesman is reporting today that the “Four Seasons condos break ground this week.” I’ve heard that before (for the past seven years, in fact!), and I know that many bets could be lost if the Four Seasons Residential does become a reality. The 32-floor, 166 unit luxury residential high-rise with views of the newly renamed Lady Bird Lake is now expected to open on 2010.

Many have been worrying that Austin’s downtown can’t support the prices of $400,000 to $4 million, but with nearly half of the units already sold with nonrefundable deposits, it seems that this project is very healthy.

Still, with sales slow in neighboring buildings such as Milago, which also has beautiful views of Lady Bird Lake and luxurious amenities, can Austin take all of the planned urban residential development?

For now, it seems that people are still willing to spend the money to live in Austin’s booming downtown. With sales still holding slow across the board (even in sub prime developments), it seems our quickly growing number of Austinites can afford the luxury of an urban downtown, but are taking their time like they are all over the city.

If you would like more information on this development or any other condos/flats in downtown Austin, call 512-771-1776 or email ariakristen@gmail.com.

Aria Schoenfelt McIntosh
BridgeOne Properties & Corias Homes, Inc.
http://www.liveaustinrealestate.com

Tags: austin, austin real estate, building, condos, development, downtown, living, real estate by Aria
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