Housing Innovations LMC – Discussion Highlights
2023
- November 2023 Discuss water in Central Texas with former TCEQ and current Winstead attorney. How will we grow, what resources do we have to allow for future growth and what challenges do we face? Austin has good supply of water. Storage is always the largest constraint. San Antonio does not and plans to decrease daily use per person in order to allow for growth. Outline of water rights regulating water use and historical context.
- October 2023 Mass Timber Tour of Hine’s East 4th T3 project with Hines. Long term sustainability is a major selling tool for tech-oriented office users. Cost is roughly in line with concrete and might be a small premium. Rents are some of the highest in the City.
- September 2023 Explore Austin’s 40 year old Land Development Code and the challenges and recent opportunities for higher density MF development. Original Code did not allow many sites or options for MF zoning. Recent code ordinances in the last year are creating ways to add density on sites that were previously not developable. Compatibility is the biggest challenge facing most sites that are prime for higher density MF
- August 2023 Networking social with group members
- July 2023 Discussion with Brad at HKS and Will Pender, President of Adolphson Peterson. Discussion over why this adaptive re-use is trending in many major markets with office market distress, oversupply combined with continued housing shortages in the US. HKS discussed design challenges and AP looked at a couple of their high rise and mid rise conversions currently going on in the DFW market. Incredible insight into fascinating trend in housing in the current market environment.
- June 2023 Discussion with the CEO, CTO and CDO on Cedar’s technology platform providing zoning, mapping and massing yield software to early stage underwriting for the real estate industry.
- May 2023 Discussion with Mark Grobmeyer (Winstead) and Brannen Blazer (Amherst Group) on the growing SF BTR market, understanding the varying product types, the legal considerations and strategies, market demand, opportunity and challenges facing the many existing and new faces in the real estate space.
- April 2023 Visit and tour of Community First with Alan Graham, The LMC visited with Alan and his team about the history, vision and progress of Community First Village, a community for chronically homeless individuals wishing to make a change. The conversation focussed on the concept, economics, operational policies, density, growth, community living and the impact that the village is having in Austin and the many municipalities world-wide that wish to implement the same.
- March 2023 Austin Housing Market Update by Concord, Jordan Hall with Concord gave a presentation on the Austin housing market and how it compared to the rest of the US. Austin continues to rank very strong amongst its peer markets. Absorption of rental housing, growth of high income earners and net migration are leading factors for Austin’s sustained growth amid marcro economic concerns with interest rates and SVB bank foreclosure. Still, there is a growing gap between rental and for-sale housing making it very difficult to own in Austin. And supply concerns remain high.
- February 2023 Affordable (Tax Credit) Housing, Discussed LIHTC financing program, including: program background, program requirements (application and ongoing restrictions), typical capital stacks, timelines for development, who lives there (income limits and AMI’s), and how rents are calculated. We toured the Talavera Lofts development in the Saltillo Plaza TOD to see a LITHC in operations.
- January 2023 Master Planning for District Wharf (Washington DC), Lead architect presented case study of 2 million SF mixed use redevelopment, and partnership with the City of Washington DC. Discussed development challenges and solutions, including: housing/capital market changes in 2008, engineering/design challenges with waterfront, and City’s RFP process.
2022
- December 2022 Holiday social with group members
- November 2022 Tour of Whisper Valley and discussion with discussion with development partner, EcoSmart Solutions (ESS). Understanding the Geothermal Infrastructure design and how this green building method heats and cools all homes within the development.
- October 2022 Tour of 44 East, a 309-unit condo tower rising 50-stories above Lady Bird Lake in the Rainey district. Discussion with developer on design, sales and market reception, and the challenges faced through the COVID 19 pandemic.
- September 2022 Group discussion to plan upcoming topics
- August 2022 Discussion about water sustainability practices and drought-resistant development strategies
- June 2022 Tour ICON’s 3D printed House Zero and discussion about the future of home building technologies (benefits, challenges)
- March 2022 Topic: Infill development and status of CoA code update lawsuit; Guest Speakers: Brian Anderson, Habitat for Humanity and Cody Carr, Carr Residential
- February 2022 Topic: Market overview for Austin multifamily housing; Guest Speaker: Sam Tenenbaum, CoStar
2021
- December 2021 Holiday social with group members
- September 2021 Presentation by Studio8 about history and methods of Green Building
- August 2021 Topic: Single Family Build-to-Rent
- March 2021 Topic: Co-Living
- February 2021 New member introductions & group discussion to plan upcoming topics
- January 2021 Topic: Life Cycle of Urban Neighborhoods; Takeaways: Discussed the negative aspects of re-gentrification and effects on home values, taxes and quality of education. Request was made to get a speaker that is a Charter School developer and to add a missing middle discussion this year.
2020
- September 2020 Topic: TOD’s and SFR Development; Guest Speaker: Diana Ramirez, Travis County; Takeaways: Transit Oriented Developments and update on new plan and bond.
- August 2020 Topic: Family Renter Housing; Guest Speaker: Taylor Wilson, Wilson Capital, formerly with Lonestar Development; Takeaways: Insights into experience and outlook on developing family renter products in Austin.
- July 2020 Topic: Family Renter Housing; Guest Speaker: Todd LaRue, RCLCO; Takeaways: Insights into the research behind a recently-published report by ULI’s Terwilliger Center regarding Family-Renter Housing.
- June 2020 Topic: Environmentally Sustainable Homes; Guest Speaker: Lee Whitaker, VP of Sales, Pacesetter Homes; Takeaways: Shared the decision process to build in Whisper Valley.
- May 2020 Topic: Environmentally Sustainable Homes; Guest Speaker Doug Gilliland, President, Taurus Investment Holdings; Takeaways: Overview of Whisper Valley, an eco-smart master-planned community in Manor.
- April 2020 Topic: Round table reaction to COVID; each member shared How pandemic has affected each person’s business? How is your industry vertical and firm creatively navigating the pandemic?
- March 2020 Topic: Why volume builders are still building for a nuclear family that no longer exists. How private equity is changing this equation; Guest Speaker: Jay McKenzie Director, Consumer Insights & Communication Builders Digital Experience (BDX)
2019
2018
- November 2018 Community Land Trusts; White paper released on the benefits of Community Land Trusts. CLICK HERE to read the paper.
- August 2018 The Housing LMC did not meet in July and instead reviewed the first draft of the community land trust white paper and provided further feedback.
- July 2018 The Housing LMC met with the technical writer twice in July to provide comments and direction on what should be included in the community land trust white paper.
- June 2018 Housing LMC members met to review an initial outline of the community land trust paper and discuss next steps. ULI staff also indicated that they would retain a technical writer to compile our outline, comments and findings from our site visits and turn that into a formal white paper.
- May 2018 Housing LMC members met to recap visits to land trust sites and shared highlights and lessons learned. Members also decided to begin work on a white paper to summarize how community land trusts are formed and operate and to look into issues that prevent them from being scaled up.
- April 2018 The Housing LMC continued exploring land trusts by touring the Guadalupe-Saldana subdivision developed by Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GNDC). GNDC Executive Director Mark Rogers led the tour and talked about the history of the development, his partnership with Habitat for Humanity, and how he relocated homes from Rainey Street to the site. He also talked about how the community land trust was set up to ensure the single family homes remained permanently affordable.
- March 2018 The March Housing LMC meeting was the first of three meetings dedicated to community land trusts. The LMC toured The Chicon which was developed by Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation as Austin’s first mixed-use, mixed-income, community land trust development. The Chicon includes 27 single family homes, and 21 of them are reserved for households earning up to 80% of the area median income. The development also includes ground floor retail and office space.
- February 2018 Topic: Understanding the Bonds on the Ballot; The Housing LMC welcomed John Lawler from the Keep Austin Affordable campaign to talk about the upcoming November 2018 affordable housing bond measure. Austin City Council placed the $250 million bond measure on the November ballot. In addition to providing funding for the development and rehabilitation of single family and multifamily housing, it also includes $100 million for the city to buy land to provide affordable housing.