Downtown Austin apartments bubbling up

AUSTIN – The area loosely bounded by I-35 and Mopac Expy. to the east and west, and by 12th St. and Ben White Blvd. to the north and south, is seeing one of the largest apartment construction booms in recent memory.

Six projects totaling 1,682 units were recently completed or are near completion, and another 13 projects totaling 3,402 units are projected for completion in 12 to 24 months, according to data from Austin Investor Interests LLC.

Whitley at Brazos and East Third streets delivered 75 of 266 units in early April 2013, with published lease rates in excess of $3 per sf — or $3,000-plus for a two-bedroom, 1,000-sf apartment. Other units scheduled to be delivered soon are expected to garner rents of $2 or more per sf.

Nineteen projects totaling 5,084 units in or close to that box — including two projects, Eleven and RiverView, just east of I-35 — are near completion or expected to be delivered in the next 24 months.

In addition, the District at SoCo and Post South Lamar, both north of Ben White Blvd. in South Austin, were finished recently for a total of 513 units.

Read more at the Austin Business Journal.