780 Apartments Added

There are another couple apartment complexes to be built in the east Riverside area.  These will add another 780 apartment units to the mix next year.  The rental market is robust and lending is loosening up for developers.

Excerpt from the Statesman:

Austin-based Cypress Real Estate Advisors plans to start construction later this year on the street and utility infrastructure for the western 26 acres in what is known as the Lakeshore planned unit development, or PUD . A month or two later, Cypress will break ground on the first component, a $30 million apartment project with 230 luxury units along South Lakeshore Boulevard, east of Riverside Drive.

Rents for units in the three-story building are expected to range from $900 a month for a one-bedroom to $1,600 a month for a three-bedroom unit, said David Cox, senior vice president of development for Cypress. It will be the first component of a larger, mixed-use project planned for the 50-acre site, which Cypress plans to develop in phases over the next seven or eight years, Cox said.

Nearby, Houston-based Grayco Partners plans to start construction by the fall on 250 apartments in a four-story building with street-level retail, according to plans filed with the city.

At the northeastern corner of Riverside and Interstate 35, CDK Riverside has started work on a 300-unit, four-building complex on the lakefront site of a failed condominium project. The CityView project is expected to be completed in 2013.

Cypress and Grayco announced their projects in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and tore down hundreds of aging apartment units to make way. But the recession and lack of financing for major new developments delayed the start of work.

AMLI Residential was the first developer to build a major new project in the area. The 375-unit AMLI South Shore apartment complex opened last year, and AMLI said leasing is ahead of expectations, with occupancy now at 73 percent. Aside from apartments with amenities such as a swimming pool and on-site fitness center, the project has attracted new street-level retail.

The new projects come as Austin’s apartment market turns in landlords’ favor.

In a new report, Austin Investor Interests, which tracks the apartment market, said that “on the heels of a banner year that saw significant gains in both rent and occupancy, the first quarter of 2011 confirms that the Austin apartment market has finally set a new course.”

“Breaking historical trends that produced only one positive quarter per year, the first quarter continued to see increases in both occupancy and rent,” the report said.