It's apparent the East Riverside area is changing, but not everyone may be clear on how rapidly and how much. One canary-in-the-coal-mine appears to be Linder Elementary in the Riverside and Oltorf area.
Changing demographics in that part of town mean that AISD won't build a new elementary school in Southeast Austin despite the fact that Linder is operating at 152% of its capacity-with some classes actually sitting in hallways and the gym.
"Apartments along Riverside Drive, where many Linder families live, are prime locations for high-priced condominiums." The residents of those condos will presumably have fewer children than the "highly transient, working-class community of mostly Hispanic immigrant families" that Linder currently serves.
And the prices that Austin condos are currently commanding-and will command in the next few years-will price out more than just that particular population. A recent survey of national condo prices found that Austin "saw steady growth from year to year." The National Association of Realtors reported that the median condo price at the end of 2007 had jumped over seven percent, to $173,200 from 2006. Although noting that his firm had recently sold a one-bedroom condo for a (relatively) modest $145,000, Paul Perez, operations manager for the Live Well Team here in Austin said that "any price point" above that can be accommodated in the booming luxury market.
One of the factors that could be considered both cause and effect of East Riverside development is-should it come to pass-the proposed Bergstrom-to-downtown rail route, which could well be routed straight down East Riverside Drive.
The line, starting at 4th street and Congress, would have to go over the Congress Avenue-Ann Richards Bridge....The report recommends that the tracks be routed into the middle of Riverside at Travis Heights Boulevard, with lanes added to the outside of Riverside from there all the way to Texas 71.
All of this, of course, is subject to the question of where the money would come from-and that's a $302 million dollar question.
Finally, there's a major development that could literally change the shape of East Riverside Drive in the works. As of last year, Houston-based Graco Partners LLC was sitting on 26 acres in the Riverside and Lakeshore area, and planning a good-sized mixed-use development Zoning changes would almost certainly be required, but it's well known that the city would like to see drastic change in that part of town-including the reduction of the city's highest crime rate. Not surprisingly, Graco's project is neither the only nor the first to get into the planning stages, and the changes for the area are expected to be massive:
Proposed projects near Grayco's tracts include 375 apartments that AMLI Residential plans to build near East Riverside and lakeshore and a $400 million to $500 million mixed-use development by Cypress Real Estate Advisors that would have up to 2,500 apartments, condominiums and townhomes.
Some of the new projects would replace existing apartment complexes, and hundreds of units would be razed. Some businesses and renters have already had to move.
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