AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Novare Group Holdings of Atlanta and its partner, locally based Andrews Urban LLC, will break ground this fall on a 35-story residential tower that will also provide a new home for the downtown post office. A second tower will follow.

The first tower, at Sixth and Nueces Streets, will have about 400 condominiums and include ground-floor retail space. It will connect to a new two-story post office at Fifth and San Antonio Streets. The post office will have about 25,000 square feet and include a seven-story parking garage. The post office would open in 2008, and the residential tower would open in the fall of 2009.

The second high rise will be built at the former postal site across San Antonio Street. At about 40 stories, it will include more than 500 condos, more than 100 hotel rooms, and more than 25,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. That tower is expected to open in the fall of 2010.