BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 29, 2022)
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[BG PODCAST]
Episode 157: Discussing the Austin Economic Development Corp. w/Anne Gatling Haynes, Chief Transactions Officer
Today’s episode (157) features Anne Gatling Haynes, Chief Transactions Officer for the the Austin Economic Development Corporation (AEDC). She and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the impetus for its founding and the work ahead.
BACKGROUND:
In October 2020, recognizing the increasing pressures of rising real estate prices on affordability, equity, and the City’s iconic venues and small businesses, the City of Austin created the AEDC.
AEDC is a Public Real Estate Developer, working for purpose instead of profits. AEDC can speed the pace of the public response to decreasing affordability and equity by moving at the pace of the market to blend the best of public and private deal making. -> EPISODE LINK
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin suburbs focus on downtown revitalization as population booms (Community Impact)
As the Austin metro grows, the suburbs of Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto are each in the midst of significant projects to revitalize their downtown areas. Through new business developments, city facilities, infrastructure and entertainment options, the cities are hoping to drive both residents and visitors to their core areas while maintaining local character… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin can expect to add 22,000 tech jobs in next five years, report estimates (Austin American-Statesman)
If you think there are a lot of software engineers, computer scientists and other high-tech workers in the Austin metro area now, wait until nearly 22,000 more flood into the region over the next five years. That's the forecast from CompTIA, a tech industry trade association that — for the third straight year — has put Austin at the top of its annual list of U.S. cities where the tech sector is booming and expected to keep growing. CompTIA's "Tech Town Index" ranks U.S. metro areas according to their existing tech communities and the rate at which ongoing opportunities for companies and workers "intersect with affordability and quality of life" to keep them attractive. The tech-related workforce in the Austin metro area — which includes Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties — totaled about 155,000 people at the end of 2021, and is expect to grow by 3.6% this year and by 14% through 2026, according to CompTIA.
The forecast equates to the addition of about 5,600 tech workers this year and just over 21,500 by the beginning of 2027. Such projections come as no surprise to local tech industry experts or to observers of the region's red-hot housing market. Growth and job creation in Austin's tech sector "is running across the board — anything from real estate tech to (financial tech) to cybersecurity to social media platforms," said Amber Gunst, CEO of the Austin Technology Council. "It's just a wide variety of opportunities to build technology companies and offer opportunities to Central Texas.” The Austin area has notched a number of big tech-related economic development wins over the past few years, such as ongoing or announced expansions and relocations by globally prominent companies that include Tesla, Samsung, Apple and Oracle. In addition, the overall tech ecosystem here has been thriving, with medium-sized and small firms also boosting operations and hiring more workers… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Company that operates South Terminal at Austin airport rejects City’s offer (KVUE)
Expansion plans at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) are moving forward but the demolition of the South Terminal, part of what the plans call for, could lead to years of litigation and slow down the expansion progress, according to a letter obtained Wednesday by KVUE News.
The company that leases the property from the airport and operates the South Terminal, Lonestar Airport Holdings, officially rejected on Wednesday an “offensive” $1.95 million offer from the City to take it over, according to the letter.
“The Initial Offer is far below the substantial amount of capital Lonestar has invested in the South Terminal facility,” the letter said.
Just over two years earlier, in November 2019, the City offered to pay $10 million to buy the South Terminal.
The demolition of the South Terminal is needed to make room for a new taxiway and concourse, according to a memo AUS CEO Jacqueline Yaft wrote to Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Austin City Council members last July. It said, as of last July, the South Terminal would need to be closed and removed within the next two years… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
HKS, architect for huge hospitals and skyscrapers, betting on Austin's continued rise (Austin Business Journal)
HKS Inc., one of the nation's largest architecture firms, has a decades-long history in Austin, contributing to the creation of buildings such as Frost Bank Tower and IBC Bank Plaza. But it has never had a standalone office in the Texas capital — until now.
It is investing in a substantial presence as it hires and searches for a permanent office.
The Dallas-based firm — which ranked No. 3 on Building Design+Construction's latest list of U.S. architecture firms with 2020 revenue of more than $430 million — has tapped Chi Lee to be office director in Austin and Brad Wilkins as design director.
The firm has been operating out of the WeWork at 600 Congress Ave. since April 7 but is in the market for long-term space.
HKS has 25 employees already in Austin — most were already based here, although they worked remotely prior to the office opening. The firm has at least four job openings posted online for Austin roles.
Lee and Wilkins see themselves as a creative one-two punch, melding Lee's 18 years in Austin with Wilkins' international experience building super tall towers in Asia. Together, the pair is excited to help plant the flag of another high-caliber architecture firm in the city… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Connolly signs off from Planning Commission (Austin Monitor)
João Paulo Connolly bid farewell to the Planning Commission Tuesday after a year and a half of service. Connolly, an organizer with Austin Justice Coalition, signed off with a speech reflecting on the Planning Commission’s role in housing and land use debates. “All too often this commission becomes a proxy space for the city’s unresolved political tensions, battles and contradictions,” Connolly said. “And this commission’s endless attempts to design, micromanage and control the built environment often reflect this untenable position.” Connolly urged commissioners to think of people who don’t often show up to hearings: working-class people of color, renters, young people, LGBTQ people, and people experiencing homelessness.
“If all we can succeed in doing is defending the status quo, then these populations I have listed will not stand a chance in Austin,” he said. Greg Anderson, who works for Habitat for Humanity, will take Connolly’s place on the commission… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Hermès eager to tackle affluent Austin market (Austin Business Journal)
Hermès, a French luxury fashion brand that has had its Birkin handbags put up as an investment that rivaled gold and the S&P 500, is opening a brick-and-mortar shop on Austin's hip South Congress Avenue.
The 7,600-square-foot store at 1221 S. Congress Ave. will open on April 30. This will be the third Hermès store in Texas – the other two are in Dallas’ Highland Park Village and Houston’s River Oaks District.
Austin has been welcoming more luxury brand names, such as the recent first-to-market Gucci, Hublot and Saint Laurent stores in The Domain neighborhood in North Austin. During South by Southwest, Atelier Beauté Chanel opened a month-long pop-up store in the Music Lane neighborhood on South Congress.
Although the store design draws on a blend of the Texas desert landscape and Austin’s urban street, the brand used the Parisian architecture agency RDAI. The architecture firm has handled many global Hermès stores, including a shop in Amsterdam, New York, Vancouver, Milan, Beijing, London, Miami and more. This will be RDAI’s first project in Austin, according to its website.
Two Austin-based artists, Sophie Roach and Laura Lit, designed the colorful storefront for Hermès.
Austin’s two-story Hermès store will offer products from perfumes to jewelry, watch collections to leather goods and more… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Facing a teacher shortage, Texas considers a more rigorous teacher certification exam (Texas Tribune)
At a time when more Texas teachers are leaving the classroom, the state’s licensing board is considering a new certification exam that could help better prepare new teachers — and perhaps help keep them longer in the job.
On Friday, the 11-member State Board for Educator Certification will vote on whether to adopt the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment, also known as the edTPA exam. This new licensing test, developed at Stanford University, requires teachers to submit answers to essay questions and provide a sample lesson plan, a 15-minute video of themselves teaching in the classroom and a report on their students’ progress.
If approved, the move would mean ditching the old Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities exam, a test of 100 multiple choice questions that has been in use since 2002… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Library Association launches group to fight book bans (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
With its creation of an advocacy group to oppose statewide book bans, the Texas Library Association is sending a message: the loudest voices don’t represent everyone. Politicians’ outcries about “inappropriate” reading material belie the fact that “there are millions of Texans who want to support these rights,” TLA president-elect Mary Woodard said at a press conference Tuesday at TLA’s annual conference. TLA launched Texans for the Right to Read in March in response to the recent rise in book bans across Texas libraries. It aims to get opponents to the movement involved at the community level, where decisions about censorship are being made. Between July 2021 and March 2022, 1,586 books were banned in 86 school districts across 26 states, according to a recent report from free expression organization PEN America.
Texas topped the list with 713 book bans in 16 school districts, including Granbury, where three books were removed from shelves and its review of material prompted intervention by the ACLU of Texas. Politicians have taken notice and are bringing attention to the issue “to win elections,” said Shirley Robinson, executive director of TLA. “It’s easy to see this is an election year ploy designed to sow mistrust between parents and educators and divide our state based on party affiliation and ideology,” said Robinson. In October 2021, state Rep. Matt Krause of Fort Worth wrote a letter to the Texas Education Agency, asking districts to investigate the presence of more than 850 books in school libraries. Krause, a Republican, is running for Tarrant County district attorney. An analysis by the Dallas Morning News found of the first 100 titles listed, 97 were written by women, people of color and LGBTQ authors. Days after Krause’s letter, Gov. Greg Abbott penned his own missive outlining the Texas Association of School Boards’ responsibility to ensure students are not “exposed to pornography” in Texas public schools… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
DeSantis officials say Florida won’t pay Disney’s debt — but there's no plan yet (Politico)
The DeSantis administration is adamant that Florida taxpayers will not be stuck paying massive debts for Walt Disney Co. after Republicans revoked the company’s longstanding special privileges in the state — but the governor has offered few specific details as questions mount over the legal ramifications.
A plan for how the state will tackle Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, which gives the California-based company self-governing power over its amusement park property in Central Florida, is expected to be “shared in the next few weeks,” according to DeSantis officials. Yet Reedy Creek is contending that the new state law targeting Disney conflicts with the state’s original agreement, leaving at stake some $1 billion in outstanding bond debt and putting the economic future of the special district in a dire position, according to a new advisory from Fitch Ratings on Thursday… (LINK TO FULL STORY)