RIVER PLACE PROJECT RISING

COMMERCIAL LOANS AUSTIN (Hill Country News) – Aspen Properties Inc. plans to break ground in February on a speculative development that includes 132,000 square feet of office space, a 36,000-square-foot medical office building and 11,600 square feet of retail space. A 100-room hotel is included in the plans.

The project will go up at RM 2222 and River Place Blvd. on 23 acres next to River Place Corporate Park, bringing the center’s total to 70 acres. Construction is expected to take 12 months.

The existing retail park includes 588,000 square feet of office space, and seven buildings. Aspen Properties Inc. purchased the park in May 2005 from Financial Industries Corp. for $103 million. Tenants include Motorola Inc. and Polycom Inc.

While the rest of the country hunkers down and tries to get through the housing lull and decline in home values, Austin has taken an entirely different route for both commercial loans and residential loans. Gray Buffington, President of Buffington Mortgage, who is a top commercial and residential lender in the area, explains:

“Austin is constantly listed in national publications as one of the top places to live or own a business. Couple that popularity with the statistics that show Austin’s population doubling in a mere fifteen years and it’s easily understandable that one can’t drive very far in Austin or Austin’s neighboring communities without seeing new construction for commercial real estate, housing, roads, and retail. We have investors from other states every single day calling us regarding investment opportunities in Austin. It’s where people are being schooled to place their money who want a return in real estate investments. Because we do both residential and commercial loans, it’s a very exciting time to see the growth–but even better to be able to participate in making it happen.”

An exciting time for Austin, indeed. with property owners expecting it will continue for quite some time. If reports and statistics are any indication, those who own properties in Austin may want to consider renting them out rather than selling right now. Currently the demand for housing, as an example, is far greater than those available. This results in values seeing a steep uphill ride–a wonderful thing for investors–especially when population growth is also on the same uphill slide. And it seems Austinites are tuned in. “For rent” signs are outnumbering “For Sale” signs in a great deal of neighborhoods. As for the business owners, they continue to come and the population growth helps ensure they will also have their pick of job candidates.

(For more information on Austin Real Estate, contact the Real Estate site at Texas A&M University. For more information on Buffington Mortgage, residential and commercial mortgages, contact Gray Buffington at 512-672-4729)