AUSTIN, Texas – Developers building The Independent, a 58-story condo building that resembles the game Jenga, have closed on a deal with the city of Austin to purchase an 1.7 acre lot at 3rd Street and West Avenue for $14.5 million.
Construction is set to start on the building in January 2016. Once complete, The Independent will take the title as Austin's tallest building and tallest residential tower west of the Mississippi. It's housed in the rapidly transforming Seaholm District.
"This is going to become the beacon of the neighborhood," said Kevin Burns, CEO of Urbanspace.
Urbanspace was charged with leasing out the 374 condo units. Potential buyers reserved 90 percent of the units in just one week and it's easy to see why; in addition to the prime location, there are a lot of perks.
"We have a really nice panoramic view of the city and the lake where people can come and congregate. We have a business center, we have a theater, we have a yoga studio, a fitness facility, a club room, a private dining area," said Burns.
Plus there's areas of open space, a dog owner's lounge, play areas for children and a pool that extends over the building with a glass edge.
While most people who see the tower think it resembles the game Jenga, one of the architects who helped design it hadn't even heard of the game.
"I didn't even know what Jenga was until I saw that in an article that came out," said Brett Rhode, director of Rhode Partners.
Rhode and his team say they were just trying to do something different.
"We're trying to get away from kind of a more generic building type that you might see a lot of, especially in Austin, and try to kind of shake, shake it up a little bit," said Rhode.
The tower's design has done just that. People in Austin seem to either love it or hate it.
Crews plan to break ground on Jan. 11, 2016 and it will take three years to construct. That's longer than normal, but Rhode said this is not your average high rise. It's valued at $300 million.
In addition to paying the city for the land, developers made a voluntary contributions of approximately $2.7 million to the city of Austin's Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $1 million for city infrastructure.
There are still some units available for purchase. They range from $400,000 to $1.7 million. Go here for more information.
