Multifamily Housing LMC – Discussion Highlights
2023
- December 2023
- Orange Flight – TOUR: Juno East Austin
- Blue Flight –
- November 2023
- Orange Flight – Affordability Unlocked Lawsuit Status with Victoria Haase and Ron Thrower of Thrower Design Land Planners. Co-presenter David Carroll
- Blue Flight –
- October 2023
- Orange Flight – Guest speakers Patrick Otellini and Alison Satt from Swinerton; with Nhat Ho, Civilitude. Discussing scalable affordable housing. Great examples of affordable housing apartments built in California; some with mass-timber
- Blue Flight – Bell District Presentation from RedLeaf Partners
- September 2023
- Orange Flight – Tour Capitol Quarters (Jen Weaver’s project); The first “no parking” apartment in Austin. Was originally designed as co-living, but they decided to redesign to be 3-BD + 2-BA units after COVID
- Blue Flight – Property Tour: Starlight project in East Austin
- August 2023
- Orange Flight – Waterloo Greenway: New pathways and conservation areas coming to the Waterloo greenway, its extension, and park. Due to stormwater discharge being handled, the properties along the creek (i.e., on Rainey St) can go zero lot line and aren’t impacted by floodplain
- Blue Flight – Guest speaker from HACA (Housing Authority of City of Austin) to discuss their massive portfolio they have acquired in the last 10 years, and the JV partnerships with developers for new Class A product; Economics of converting hotels to micro units as long-term MFR; Projects in downtown suffering construction defects
- June 2023 (joint meeting with both flights) Legislative Update with David Mintz. New legislation being proposed to reduced lot size, FAR requirements, parking, and use type (i.e., ADUs and RVs)
- May 2023
- Orange Flight – Austin Water Authority – Water Benchmarking Presentation (2021 Water Conservation Ordinance)
- Blue Flight – Guest Speaker: Dustin and Travis with Presidium
- April 2023
- Orange Flight – Guest speaker: David Hartman; Topic: Zoning and MU2
- Blue Flight – Property Tour: Westminster Senior Living
- March 2023 Guest speaker: Jeremy Striffler with AISD
- February 2023 Property Tour: Kasa (Aaron Anderson) at AMLI on 2nd
- January 2023 National & Local Multifamily Market 2023 Update – Sam Tenenbaum from Cushman & Wakefield (Joint MF flights meeting)
-Austin MF vacancy predicted to increase with amount of new supply being built
-Housing unaffordability is largely due to the single-family home market being higher than ever
-While still high, the average rents in Austin are still relatively “”affordable”” compared to the top markets in the country, and peer cities in the area”
2022
- December 2022 Holiday Mixer
- November 2022 Discussion with Alex Perkins, Greystar
- Development today is very difficult to pencil, and what does get built needs to be Mixed Use given land prices. Sympohny Square will deliver next year and had micro-units, some with Murphy beds. Will be interesting to see those units’ performance, given the relative new-ness of the innovation district
- August 2022 Joint Meeting: Joanna Wolaver, Red Line Parkway
- Red line parkway is a linear park and public space along the Red Line, extending 32 miles from downtown to Leander. Estimated usage of 15-25k residents per day. Modeled after the Atlanta Belt-Line and Minneapolis’s Kenilworth Trail/Midtown Greenway
- June 2022 TxLeg Update with David Mintz, Texas Apartment Association
- Interim studies on: property taxes, city fees, workforce housing, impact of land use restrictions on housing development for potential new bills. Lot of chatter around housing affordability now, which is likely going to be a top concern during the next session. Bill activity picking up around disaster-related issues and also landlord/tenant relationship
- May 2022Austin’s Demographics with Lila Valencia, City of Austin Demographer
- Austin is the fastest growing large metro in the country – up 33% in the past decade compared to 25% in Orlando and Raleigh.
- Growth has been concentrated in the suburbs, with the city’s growth about 27%. More than 75% of our population growth has come from domestic migration.
- April 2022 Tour of the Troubadour apartment building
- March 2022 Carless Development and Affordable Housing With Sean Garretson with Pegasus
- Affordability takes many forms, including car ownership, which the Ivory, at Chicon and 12th St, doesn’t provide for.
- Share two electric vehicles across all residents (8 hours per month) and give an e-bike to each resident.
- Affordability unlocked let the project nearly triple the amount of affordable units from 17 to 40.
2021
2020
- September 2020 Topic: Passive House Design; Takeaways: 1) Passive house can help combat climate change; 2) After a few years of implementation, cost can be less expensive than current methods; 3) Will help future proof against increasingly restrictive building codes; 4) Retrofits are possible, but easier to do in single-family than multifamily (with residents in place); 5) Ultimately about the end user/tenant.
- August 2020 Topic: Design Changes to Multifamily Architecture; Takeaways: 1) Changes are coming, but likely dependent on virus path; 2) Push to suburban areas was already happening, but likely to accelerate, though urban living will remain desirable; 3) Some projects will only have exterior unit entry points, rather than hallways; 4) Will likely see more alcoves used in units – also trying to figure out quarantine areas for potential use; 5) Air quality/HVAC systems paramount, supply chains have become a pain point.
- July 2020 Topic: COVID-19 and Its Effects on Our Community; Takeaways: Outlook for vaccine, herd immunity, and reopening.
- June 2020 Topic: State of the Multifamily Capital Markets; Guest speakers: John Morran, NorthMarq and Scott Lamontagne, NorthMarq
- May 2020 Topic: State of the Market Post-COVID; Guest speaker: Sam Tenenbaum, CoStar; Takeaways: 1) Consumer confidence is driving the market decline; 2) Unemployment claims in Texas are at an all-time high, but lower than the national level, primarily temporary losses; 3) 130k job losses in Austin (12% of employment), primarily leisure/hospitality, retail and healthcare; 4) Austin apartment rents down year over year, with newer properties holding up much better; 5) Apartment search volume back up, heavy search from other markets to Austin.
- April 2020 Topic: Quarantine Experiences, Business Change, and State of the Austin Market; Takeaways: 1) We will see more remote working, using consultants, virtual site visits; 2) Unemployment claims have surged; 3) Seeing VRBO/short term rental units converting to longer term rentals; 4) Rents have dipped dramatically – will bounce back by March 2022; 5) Institutional debt/equity have taken a back seat and are buying time – pushing out closings and construction starts – need more certainty in the market.
- February 2020 Topic: Multifamily Project Models from Different US Markets; Takeaways: 1) The townhome model in Boston and Dallas allow for more density and results in more affordable pricing; 2) Co-living projects allow young renters to share common areas/kitchens – provide for more units, more advantageous underwriting; 3) Micro-housing projects in Seattle designed for small, urban lots with zero lot line setbacks – allows for density.
- January 2020 Planning for upcoming discussion topics: 1) Explore different types of multi-family projects across the country; 2) Look at the new development code; 3) Overlay the new code onto existing multi-family projects in Austin to see how density/affordability could be improved.
2019
- December 2019 Topic: Development Code Re-Write
- November 2019 Topic: City of Austin’s Strategic Affordable Housing Plan
- October 2019 Onsite visit at Mueller Development to discuss the incorporation of affordable housing with Greg Weaver of Catellus Development.
- September 2019 Topic: Micro-Housing; Guest Speaker: Ty Puckett, Transwestern