The transformation of East Riverside Drive from a sprawling, well-worn, affordable enclave into a dense and upscale urban village will begin in earnest in the spring, when the first planned condo project is expected to break ground.
Australian developer Constellation Property Group plans to begin work in March on its 225-unit project at the northeast corner of Interstate 35 and Riverside Drive.
The Star Riverside condos, which will sell for between $400,000 and $1.2 million, will be broken into four buildings ranging from 60 to 110 feet high.
The first owners are expected to move in in April 2009.
Constellation faces competition from numerous condo projects planned in the vicinity.
AMLI Residential hopes to break ground by the middle of next year on 375 luxury apartments on 11 acres at the northwest corner of East Riverside Drive and South Lakeshore Boulevard. In addition, Sutton Co. will build at least 45 condos. Construction could take up to two years.
Cypress Real Estate Advisors also hopes to break ground next summer on a mixed-use development that will replace 800 aging apartments with as many as 2,500 apartments, condominiums and townhomes, as well as commercial, retail and live-work space on a 50-acre site on South Lakeshore Boulevard.
Interest in redeveloping the area is easy to understand, said real estate consultant Charles Heimsath of Capitol Market Research.
"The property is extremely well-located relative to downtown," he said. "Proximity to the lake makes it really attractive for redevelopment, and the housing stock that is there currently is very old and functionally obsolete. A lot of it really couldn't be remodeled and brought to current standards of acceptable multifamily housing."
Constellation President Eugene Marchese said projects need to compete on more than just size and price to succeed, and he believes that Constellation's location will give its condos a leg-up on the competition.
"Our location being right on Lady Bird Lake gives us a huge advantage over everyone else," Marchese said. "I don't think there's any other project at the moment that has absolute lake frontage."
Not everyone is excited about the redevelopment of East Riverside Drive.
Some longtime and former residents complain that the projects will eliminate affordable housing, hurt the area's diversity and overburden the area's streets and limited parks space.
Constellation's project should speed the extension of the hike-and-bike trail.
The developer granted the city a recreational easement on 1.3 acres of its 4-acre site and donated $350,000 to the Town Lake Trail Foundation for the construction of boardwalks where the city won't be able to build on land, including under the I-35 bridge.