City staff has unveiled a third version of Austin’s land development code, touting its ease of use and preservation of neighborhood character. City Council launched the rewrite of the Austin land development code, known as CodeNEXT, in 2013 after a series of messy battles over large-scale development. Consultants who presented the newest version of the code to council Tuesday morning talked about how the latest zoning maps reflect the character of existing neighborhood plans; incorporate the Imagine Austin goals of growth along Austin’s major corridors; and consolidate three decades of policy decisions.

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AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin is making the first step toward the construction of a new on-campus basketball arena by soliciting interest from potential qualified developers to build and operate a new arena and basketball training facility, with minimal financial outlay from the university.

The anticipated public-private partnership between UT and an outside entity would be groundbreaking in college athletics and enable the university to build a state-of-the-art basketball venue that can also host concerts and other events.

“We have a unique opportunity to develop a world-class arena and training center for the men’s and women’s basketball teams that will help us recruit and support elite student-athletes, improve the fan experience and host games just a short walk away for our student fans,” said UT Austin President Gregory L. Fenves. “Just as important, we are looking to do this at little cost to the university and no financial cost to the community.”

Read more at news.utexas.edu

With all this HQ2 conversation heating up, it seems Amazon isn’t the only company who is moving to Austin. A new study based on Bureau of Labor statistics and the Yardi matrix has determined that Austin is one of the top markets for commercial office real estate investors in 2018. 

To determine these hot markets, analysts looked employment numbers, vacancy rates, lease rates, and the office construction pipeline. With a 2.7 percent unemployment rate, Austin ranks among the top cities in the U.S. for job seekers. And, as Commercial Cafe points out, the city maintained a low 11-15 percent office vacancy rate throughout 2017.

Read more at culturemap.