Day Three - Austin + San Marcos + Wimberly

Sam Gelfand - ACDDC
Discussion about Alley Flats

On day three, we got an early start.  Before heading to San Antonio, we made five real estate site visits and had an awesome lunch at a downtown Austin favorite, Hutt's Hamburgers (where I ordered a hot dog, go figure).  Day three started with a site visit to ACDDC, a non-profit devoted to providing design services to low and moderate income families.  At ACDDC, we talked with Sam Gelfand about a concept called Alley Flats, an innovative idea that is still trying to gain momentum.  The idea is simple - build small residences, typically less than 850 SF, on existing lots in urban areas where land is unavailable or very expensive and utilities and infrastructure are readily available.  According to Sam, there is tremendous potential with up to 30,000 lots in Austin that could be eligible for alley flats.  This idea is not new.  Historically, families have built homes on their land to accommodate growing families. In the case of alley flats, however, the lots are typical lots, not farms or ranches.  Whether intended for a family member or as an income producing property, the idea is a good one although not without its challenges, the biggest one being financing and dealing with issues such as HOA's, ingress/egress, and setbacks.  On day three, we also visited another innovative real estate project in East Austin called Pedernales Lofts, a mixed-use development.  Although the building was predominantly single-family condos, the ground floor of this project was unique because it could be residential or commercial depending upon demand.  The demand for the commercial was strong on the side that fronted a busy street, but demand for commercial was slight on the opposite side where the building faced a railroad track and a lesser road.

Having gone to school in Austin in the 90s, it was nice to see developments taking shape in both east and south Austin.  The city has definitely expanded to fill available space and SMART development practices are clearly being implemented throughout Austin.

S.M.A.R.T. Development

Safe
Mixed use
Accessible
Reasonably priced
Transit oriented

Sanctuary Lofts Student Housing
San Marcos, TX

My favorite stop on day three was not in Austin; it was in San Marcos.  On the way to San Antonio, we stopped in San Marcos to tour the square and visit a student housing complex called Sanctuary Lofts, an adaptive reuse project that took over an old church building.  Sanctuary Lofts is an American Campus Community.  Students are able to share common space within an apartment while having their own room and bathroom.  Each student signs an individual lease with rates starting under $600/mos.  Residents also enjoy amenities commonly found in upscale multi-family projects such as fitness rooms, game rooms, office space, and outdoor facilities including a really nice pool.  Both ACDDC and American Campus Communities are taking creative approaches to solve one of the most inherent challenges in real estate development - finding land to build on in densely developed areas.

Neel Morton, Architect
Personal Residence

Our final stop on day three was in Wimberly, TX.  Many thanks to Mike for arranging the site visit to Neel Morton's office and residence.  Mr. Morton talked with us about how he used an existing green-house to create office space and how he was using sustainable materials such as recycled pallets as a primary building material for his home outside of Wimberly, TX.  He was gracious enough to explain in great detail how he used rammed earth construction to build temporary housing on his home site.  I'm sure Neel's home will be 'green' in the truest sense of the word - no marketing ploy here!

Thanks to everyone we met on day three in Austin, San Marcos, and Wimberly for their wonderful hospitality.  We learned a lot about sustainable building practices, adaptive reuse and redevelopment.  A special thanks to Catherine and Krista from the Texas Downtown Association and Preservation Texas for sharing their ideas about how small towns and historic buildings can get a new lease on life.  They are clearly doing some great work by helping to preserve small towns and buildings across Texas.

Rammed Earth Construction