PNC Bank plans to invest $10 million in the Austin Housing Conservancy Fund, which is managed by Affordable Central Texas to secure workforce housing throughout the Austin area. The investment, which brings ACT’s total fund to more than $41 million, will help to move forward with the purchase of multifamily properties where rents will be maintained at levels affordable for moderate- and middle-income households. The group has a goal of securing $50 million for property acquisition by the end of this year. In a statement announcing the investment, PNC Regional President Steven Gonzalez said, “This investment will help create meaningful change by offering a path forward to help middle-income families, especially those who work in essential services, remain in Austin despite steep increases in cost of living.”

The Austin Convention Center Department has scheduled a pair of information sessions for those interested in learning more about the coming solicitation for developers interested in the hotel and residential projects proposed for reconstruction of the convention center. A group presentation via Microsoft Teams will take place March 1, offering project background and a limited question-and-answer period. Those who register online for the group meeting will then have the option to schedule a 45-minute one-on-one meeting with ACCD staff and consultants already connected to the project. The hotel and residential developments are expected to take place largely in concert with the four-year teardown and $1.2 billion reconstruction of the convention center, which is slated to begin in 2026.

A new nonprofit advanced manufacturing center is slated to open in East Austin near State Highway 130, with a 50,000-square-foot facility sitting on 7 acres. The Hayes Innovation Center for Advanced Manufacturing will open in the former Clean Energy Tech Center on Quinn Luke Trail. The $20 million effort is backed by the SH 130 Municipal Management District, which was created by state lawmakers in 2015. The site will operate as an accelerator to support regional manufacturing entrepreneurs. The center’s founders hope that as startups from the accelerator grow, they can move into some of the available industrial space located nearby along the SH 130 corridor. A tour for members of the area tech community is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. March 21.

A quiet battle is going on behind the scenes between NXSTEP Opportunity Partners and Austin real estate company Stratus Properties Inc. NXSTEP, a real estate-focused private equity fund, offered to buy all of Stratus Properties’ shares for $27.18 per share in cash. The initial offer was made on Jan. 24, 2024. The board of Stratus unanimously rejected that offer, according to their statement to the press.

Stratus announced this week that it had received a second offer from NXSTEP and that a major Stratus stockholder, Oasis Management Company Ltd., had reported that it had entered into an agreement with NXSTEP supportive of its proposal. Subsequently, Stratus received an updated nonbinding proposal from NXSTEP to pay approximately $27.30 per share in cash. In its press release, Stratus said, “Stratus’ Board plans to consider these matters consistent with its fiduciary duties and respond to NXSTEP in due course. Stratus does not intend to comment on or disclose further developments regarding the proposal unless and until it deems further disclosure is appropriate or required.”

Stratus is a familiar name to longtime Austinites because of the fight between its predecessor company, FMP, and environmentalists over what development should be allowed over the Barton Springs Zone of the Edwards Aquifer and subsequent passage of the Save Our Springs Ordinance. However, in 2020, the Save Our Springs Alliance said it had reached an agreement with Stratus “that will help protect approximately 10 acres of land from commercial development and will reduce the total amount of impervious cover (i.e., pavement) that can be built in the immediate area surrounding the new apartment complex by 6.9 acres.”

SOS noted, “The development in question is the last phase of a five-phase development at the southwest corner of William Cannon and Southwest Parkway (7415 Southwest Parkway) in the area known as Lantana. In exchange for being able to convert their approved office project to multi-family housing, Stratus has agreed to reduce the overall imperious cover of their planned project to 25% net site area (from 60% NSA), by dedicating additional developable lands towards land conservation immediately to the project’s south. This would be functionally equivalent to the limits required under the SOS Ordinance.”

Shares in Stratus Properties saw a 52-week high of $29.99 and a low of $18.54. The price on Jan. 3 was $28.03, but the price on Thursday afternoon was $22.33.

We may have had a few good rains in Austin recently, but the drought is still on in Central Texas. On Wednesday, the Lower Colorado River Authority announced a limit on outdoor watering, asking cities, businesses, industries and other LCRA customers to limit watering to once per week. According to a statement to the press about the change, “Cities and utilities are required to enact the once-a-week restriction for their end use customers by May 1. This includes Austin, Briarcliff, Burnet, Cedar Park, Cottonwood Shores, Dripping Springs, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Lago Vista, Leander, Marble Falls, Pflugerville, Sunrise Beach Village, the West Travis County Public Utility Agency and multiple Travis County municipal utility districts and water control and improvement districts.” The city of Austin already has a once-per-week watering limit in place. “Our reservoirs are stressed, and we need to do everything we can to preserve our supplies through this drought,” John Hofmann, LCRA executive vice president of water, said in a statement to the press. “We can’t make it rain, we can’t increase the amount of water flowing into the lakes and we can’t stop evaporation, which takes more water from the Highland Lakes every year than any single customer. What we can do is limit how much water we use, and that is what we’re doing here.” The watering restrictions are triggered when the combined storage drops below 45 percent in lakes Buchanan and Travis. On Wednesday, the combined storage was 42 percent. The watering restrictions were unanimously adopted by the LCRA board at its monthly meeting. Firm water customers that do not adopt the new regulations can face fines of up to $10,000 per day from the water authority.

If you have a project that’s subject to lakeside environmental requirements, the Development Services Department’s environmental inspections division has a brown-bag lunch-and-learn for that. Offering information on the unique regulations for construction on, under or next to the water in Lake Austin, Lady Bird Lake and Lake Walter E. Long, the event is set for 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. March 7 at the Permitting and Development Center, 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Drive. Environmental compliance supervisor Amanda Wyrick will cover specifics for boat docks, stationary platforms, piers, shoreline access and more, focusing mainly on information that affects permit holders, but the event is open to all interested Austin residents. Wyrick’s presentation will be interactive with time for questions. Outside food and drinks are welcome, and light snacks will be provided. Register to attend here. For more details, contact DSDCommunications@austintexas.gov.

We Are Blood, Central Texas’ nonprofit blood center, is giving away custom T-shirts to those donating (or attempting to donate) blood during the first half of next month. All We Are Blood locations are participating, but the stock of T-shirts is limited, so people are encouraged to make an appointment today by visiting their website or calling 512-206-1266. The T-shirt fest will run from March 1-14. Locations and hours can be found on the We Are Blood website.

Early voting for the March 5 primary election is underway and will continue through Friday, March 1. Travis County voters can vote at any location (listed here) in the county, with polls open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday through Feb. 28 and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. From Thursday, Feb. 29, until Friday, March 1, some locations will stay open until 10 p.m. Our pals over at KUT have helpfully detailed the races on the ballot. That information can be found here.

Tourism Commission Chair Daniel Ronan said the city has the analysis and data it needs to move forward with reforming its policies on short-term rentals to increase Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues and shouldn’t wait through the end of the year. After the commission approved 10 recommendations related to STR enforcement last week, Ronan told the Austin Monitor: “It should not take 10 months to a year for the city of Austin to enact commonsense recommendations that this commission has put forward to allow the city to begin collecting additional (hotel) tax revenues almost immediately. I don’t see the need to forestall the inevitable when it comes to offering a potential path forward for the two principal STR platforms, Airbnb and Vrbo, in trying to do the right thing and also bringing additional resources into the city coffers to fund additional cultural arts programming grants, historic preservation grants,” he said. “The city has the tools in its toolbox to implement some very needed reforms to bring in additional resources.”

The city’s Housing Department is looking for feedback on how to invest in housing and community development. Each year, a community needs assessment is conducted to determine how to invest federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This year, that assessment will be used to create a five-year plan about how to invest local housing funds as well as federal money. That process is currently underway and will continue through March 15. Anyone can weigh in online here or through the mail (Housing Department, Attn: FY 2024-2029 Consolidated Plan, P.O. Box 1088, Austin, Texas 78767), email (housing@austintexas.gov), phone (512-974-3155) or through a phone survey by texting “MyCommunity” to 73224. In addition, the city will hold two public meetings on the topic at the March 7 City Council meeting and the March 12 Community Development Corporation meeting.

As the Austin Transit Partnership works to implement light rail in Austin, it’s seeking community input on locations for stations and other design options. The following events are open to the public to give input, and you can register for them here:

• Virtual open house from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22
• 4:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, in person at Twin Oaks Library, Rooms 1 and 2, 1800 S. Fifth St.
• 7:30-9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 29, in person at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Sumners Hall, 301 E. Eighth St.

A virtual survey is also open through March 4.

Attorneys for the city of Austin and groups suing the city over creation of the South Central Waterfront Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, or TIRZ, will meet in court today. Taxpayers Against Giveaways, the Save Our Springs Alliance and three taxpayers – former City Council Member Ora Houston, former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos and Austin homeowner Faye Holland – filed suit last April to stop the city from diverting tax money into a fund to develop the former Austin American-Statesman site on Lady Bird Lake. City Council, under former Mayor Steve Adler, voted to take $354 million in property taxes over 19 years from general revenue to pay for development on the site. Both sides have filed motions for summary judgment. It will be up to Travis County District Judge Jessica Mangrum to sort out the arguments and decide whether to issue a summary judgment for either the plaintiffs or the defendant city of Austin. She could also reject both arguments and direct the parties to bring in evidence to support their positions.