Specializing in Austin Real Estate, Rosedale, Oakmont, Tarytown, Clarksville, Brykerwoods, Hyde Park, Westlake, and Travis County. Ben Bufkin helping to find and buy the home of your dreams.

Downtown Austin is growing faster than ever. Well, maybe not ever, but more than in the last 14 years I have lived here. The city council and the community in gereral is pushing for growing the downtown into a live-work area with high density, shops downstairs, and living upstairs. The term is "multi-use" and it is pretty much pretty much the montra for Austin Real Estate. There are 10+ condo projects going up in the next couple years that cater to the different appeals of living in downtown Austin.
A couple condos are situated at the turn of the river in downtown Austin, taking advantage of views down the river. The first time I saw the views, I was pretty surprised. You can see all the way down the river from the Congress bridge, past the Lamar Bridge, and past downtown. One nice aspect about these places is that there is not much chance of anything being built in the way of the river view since you are at the bend. The two places are called The Milago and The Shores. The Milago is right at the bend of the river with only the Town Lake Trail between it and the water. If you want protected river views, The Milago is pretty much it. Also, to get any views, you need to be above the trees and that is at about the 6th floor as well as on the west side of the building; the east side of the building pretty much has nothing interesting right now. The Shores has a similar view corridor down the river and to the west and is a little more north of the Milago. It has the Mexican-American cultural center being built in front of it and has a low-rise, older townhome project that poses no threat as of now to block the view. This building is not as rectangular as The Milago so more of the units have some sort of view, whether it be the river or downtown.

Moving on to a another downtown Austin condo sector. Some hotels are renovating the top floors of their places or building new high-rises next-door to accomodate those who want more high-end services associated with hotels. They will have room service available, workout facilities, concierge, and whatnot. The Hilton probably has the most upper end units right now called the Five Fifty Five. To name a couple slick attributes, they feature wolf ovens, wood floors, 24hr. concierge & security, and walls of windows viewing Austin downtown. They have a couple penthouses left.
The other downtown Austin aspect of living that some condos will be banking on is the trend to live near walkable shops and restaurants. Clarksville is a neighborhood thriving around some shops and restaurants on West Lynn as well as the 6th & Lamar area. It is probably the closest actual neighborhood (meaning houses too) to downtown to the west.