BG Reads | News You Need to Know (December 2, 2021)
Terry Black's Barbecue (Austin, TX)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
To boost housing supply, Council to allow residential use in commercial zones (Austin Monitor)
Of all the policies to arise from City Council’s decreed Austin Housing Affordability and Supply Week, the most substantial is allowing residential use in commercial zones, a move that could open up capacity for tens of thousands of new homes.
“Allowing residential in commercial I think can be very impactful,” said Council Member Ann Kitchen, one of many members in support.
The rule change, while certainly no silver bullet for Austin’s affordability woes, could increase housing supply by at most 46,324 residential units, according to a 2018 report by the Planning Commission.
The change is uncontroversial, with even those who often balk at Land Development Code changes on board. “This is something I think that there’s broad consensus about,” Council Member Alison Alter said.
The consensus also extends to disparate community stakeholders. Advocacy group HousingWorks Austin wrote in favor, as did Fred Lewis, Barbara McArthur and Michael Curry, three prominent neighborhood preservationists.
Because of a pending court ruling on whether citizen petitions count in broad rezonings, only anodyne policies were considered at Tuesday’s special housing meeting.
Austin Neighborhoods Council, a group that seeks to preserve single-family neighborhoods, does not support the change – or any changes for that matter – until the lawsuit runs its course.
Council looks set to initiate the code change on Dec. 9, via a resolution sponsored by Mayor Steve Adler. If approved early next year, the change would allow residential use in all CS, CS-1, GR, LR, GO and LO zoning districts – but only if developers reserve 10 percent of units for those making 60 percent of the median family income.
If developers opt for the residential option, site development regulations like those for Vertical Mixed-Use zoning would apply. These include design standards, lowered parking requirements and ground-floor retail… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Developer plans $80 million condo/office project on Austin's east side (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin-based developer StoryBuilt has started construction on an $80 million mixed-use residential project in East Austin, a part of the city that continues to transform with new housing, retail, office and other development.
StoryBuilt said the condominium and office project, which is being called Ellie May, will be built at an estimated cost of $80 million at 755 Springdale Road.
The project will bring 84 condos, a farm-to-table restaurant and more than 76,500 square feet of office space to a site that formerly was home to Springdale Farm. The farm's owners, Glenn and Paula Foore, started the small urban farm in 2009 and sold the property to StoryBuilt in 2018.
The name Ellie May refers to the beloved dog who greeted guests at Springdale Farm, a five-acre property studded with heritage oak trees. StoryBuilt, which specializes in redeveloping central-city sites in Austin and elsewhere, typically names its residential projects after rescue animals or employees' pets.
The Springdale project is one of the highest-profile developments to date for StoryBuilt, which was formerly known as PSW Real Estate. It also is the company's largest project in Austin, with a total of 210,000 square feet of new development planned.
StoryBuilt officials "were honored when Springdale Farm’s owners approached us when they decided to retire after operating their farm for 10 years there," Ross Wilson, president of StoryBuilt's Austin and San Antonio divisions, said in a written statement.
"This is a great example of the community, small business owners, and developers working together to honor the places that make Austin special while also providing solutions for Austin’s housing and commercial needs as the city continues to grow,” Wilson said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cultural trust hopes to build pipeline of future creative space projects (Austin Monitor)
The city’s new economic development corporation expects to begin its investment in a half-dozen venues and creative space projects by late spring, with $16.9 million in play to help combat the displacement of arts-focused businesses and organizations.
The money will be available to a handful of applicants who submit to a recently opened request for proposals for the long-awaited cultural trust that City Council members see as one of the best options for preserving threatened creative spaces as well as opening new facilities. The RFP is currently open and will take applicants through March 31, with an information session scheduled for next week.
The cultural trust is the first major project for the EDC, which Council created last year after years of planning and study. As an entity that is more loosely connected to the city but has many tools of a public body, including the ability to issue bonds for large projects, the EDC has more flexibility than the Economic Development Department.
The cultural trust funding comes from three sources: a $12 million bond package approved by voters in 2018; $2.4 million in Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue; and a city budget allocation of $2.5 million specifically to help preserve iconic music venues.
Anne Gatling Haynes, chief transactions officer, said the legal requirements attached to those sources by the city and state will play a large role in determining which applicant projects will be eligible for funding. In recent meetings Haynes said it is expected two existing music venues will be selected, with the city also looking to improve or create numerous creative hub facilities that could house multiple arts and creative organizations.
From a hoped-for pool of 30-40 applicants, she said the cultural trust hopes to create a pipeline of future projects that could be funded through philanthropy, future bond packages and mission-driven investment partners.
“Our emphasis here is to build a pipeline of needs in the community because certainly we know of these funding sources, but also knowing what more of the needs are in the community is going to help us either raise or identify the funds to support those projects over time,” she said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
When renters leave Austin, where do they go? (Austin Business Journal)
With rapid price escalations in the Austin region, many renters are leaving town to other Texas cities — and the Alamo City is overwhelmingly their top destination, a new study finds.
More than 30% of Austin-area renters looking elsewhere are eyeing the San Antonio metro, followed by the Dallas-Fort Worth (7.6%) and Corpus Christi (7.4%) areas, according to research from search platform Apartment List.
About 32% of searchers looking at San Antonio were in the Austin area, followed by Houston (20.2%) and Dallas-Fort Worth (8.2%).
Austin joins San Jose and Raleigh as technology hubs heavily disrupted by the remote work "revolution" spurred by the pandemic, wrote Apartment List researcher Rob Warnock. He describes these cities as "revolving door" metro areas, as their rent prices dipped at the start of the pandemic but quickly began to soar.
"Newfound flexibility has likely given many residents of these metros the opportunity to move somewhere new, which in turn creates vacancies that attract new renters from afar," Warnock wrote… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Federal judge blocks Texas law that would stop social media firms from banning users for a "viewpoint" (Texas Tribune)
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Texas law that seeks to restrict how social media companies moderate their content and was championed by Republicans who say the platforms are biased against conservatives.
The law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 9, would ban platforms with more than 50 million monthly users in the U.S. from removing a user over a “viewpoint” and require them to publicly report information about content removal and account suspensions. It was set to take effect Dec. 2.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote that the First Amendment protects social media platforms’ right to moderate content and rejected the defendants’ argument that such companies are “common carriers.” Pitman also ruled that some aspects of the law were “prohibitively vague.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Construction and engineering co. Zachry Group rolls out new sustainability business (San Antonio Business Journal)
San Antonio-based construction and engineering company Zachry Group rolled out a new sustainability business with a focus on energy transition projects to help customers decrease their carbon footprint. The new company, Zachry Sustainability Solutions, is designed to develop and evolve ways to decarbonize existing industrial processes, said Chairman and CEO of Zachry Group, John Zachry. Zachry Sustainability Solutions will be led by Mike Kotara, who will serve as the company's president. "Our customers are making significant commitments toward meeting ambitious new emissions standards in their portfolios, and we intend to be part of the solution," Kotara said.
While Zachry Sustainability Solutions does not provide the technologies themselves, Kotara said it will deploy new technologies in four key areas: nuclear energy, carbon capture, hydrogen and renewable fuels and chemicals. "Zachry Sustainability Solutions will work with its customers from the earliest stages of project development including feasibility studies and technology selection, and then continuing through detailed engineering design and construction to integrate new technology into the customer's existing facilities," said Kotara. New technologies will include the use of process equipment to capture and remove carbon dioxide from existing flue gas or process gas emissions; producing hydrogen using renewable energy and then substituting green hydrogen for methane fuel; and using technology to promote more sustainable feedstocks such as beef tallow, vegetable oil or seed oil instead of crude oil to produce transportation fuels, he added… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
20 years ago, fraud destroyed Enron and ruined lives. But Houston survived — and thrived. (Houston Chronicle)
It was hailed as the most innovative company in America, a hometown energy giant whose name graced one of Houston’s skyscrapers and the Astros ballpark. Enron was founded in 1985 as a natural gas pipeline company and became one of the largest energy and commodities trading companies. Its incredible growth turned the company into the darling of Wall Street, an “it stock” that stood out even among rising tech giants during the height of the dot-com bubble. At its zenith, the self-proclaimed “world's leading energy company” was the nation’s seventh largest corporation valued at almost $70 billion. But it was a world of make-believe. On Sunday, Dec. 2, 2001, Enron filed what was at the time the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history after it became apparent that its gangbuster growth was based on accounting gimmicks and a web of lies. Enron’s 20,000 employees lost their jobs and $1.2 billion in retirement funds tied up in company stock; its retirees saw $2 billion of their pension funds evaporate.
Nancy Rapoport, who served as the dean of the University of Houston Law Center at the time of Enron’s collapse and wrote several books on the Enron scandal, recalled the company’s swift and stunning fall from grace. “Before it blew up, we thought Enron was this amazing company and donor to the city of Houston, the arts and higher education,” said Rapoport, now the law school dean at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. “So it was a shock to all of us when we realized that Enron was so different from what we thought.” Twenty years later, the shock of Enron’s downfall has long faded, but it remains a cautionary tale of corporate hubris and fraud. Its lessons still carry weight, especially as Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes stands trial, accused of defrauding investors and patients about the viability and accuracy of its medical testing technology. Enron’s Chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeff Skilling convinced the company’s board, Wall Street analysts and investment banks of the energy company’s supposed success. Similarly, Holmes was able to sway investors and Theranos’ esteemed board including former Secrectaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz and Gen. James Mattis that the company could conduct hundreds of medical tests from a single drop of blood… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Houston City Council drops plan to hire lawyers to investigate housing scandal allegations (Houston Chronicle)
The city on Wednesday punted on hiring lawyers to investigate the former housing director’s allegations that the mayor tried to steer affordable housing money to select developers. City Council voted unanimously to refer back to Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration a $275,000 contract to hire the Butler Snow law firm to probe the allegations. That is a procedural move often used to kill items entirely. There was no discussion of the proposed contract, which had been delayed by council twice. Turner had promised an independent investigation, led by City Attorney Arturo Michel, after former housing director Tom McCasland publicly accused him in September of manufacturing a sham competitive funding process to bankroll certain developers at the expense of families who need affordable homes.
The mayor fired McCasland and later withdrew his recommendation to give the development $15 million in city funds. Turner and Michel — who arranged the contract — argued that rendered the investigation unnecessary. Council members opposed the contract for several reasons: some frequent critics of the mayor argued it would not be sufficiently independent; others argued it was redundant given investigations by the state General Land Office and the Harris County district attorney’s office. Some also raised fiscal concerns, although the legal funds that would have paid for the investigation are budgeted for that purpose. The land office, which administers the federal relief money to the city, did not center on McCasland’s allegations in its inquiry because the city never submitted that development for approval. It reviewed two larger, earlier rounds of funding and found the city undermined what is supposed to be a competitive process to award the money, in part by allowing too much discretion by the mayor’s office and housing staff. The state put the city’s program on pause until it takes corrective action… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Stacey Abrams launches campaign for Georgia governor (The Hill)
Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who came within striking distance of winning the Georgia governor’s mansion in 2018, announced on Wednesday that she would run once again to be the state's chief executive.Abrams has been expected for months to launch a second bid for governor. No other Democrat has entered the Georgia gubernatorial race and with Abrams’s announcement on Wednesday, it’s unlikely that any other candidate will seek the party’s nomination.
Abrams announced her campaign in a video touting her work in Georgia since her 2018 loss to Gov. Brian Kemp (R) by a scant 1.4 percentage points.
“Our values are still strong, no matter where we come from in Georgia or how long we’ve been here, we believe in this place and our people; folks who deserve to be seen and heard and have a voice,” Abrams says in the video. “Because in the end we are one Georgia.”
Unlike when she launched her first bid for governor in 2017, Abrams begins her latest campaign as a household name. She gained superstar status among Democrats in 2018 when she nearly beat Kemp and even landed on President Biden’s shortlist of potential running mates in 2020… (LINK TO FULL STORY)