Jeff Harris's Blog

I always like to hear when iconic Austin landmarks get saved and renewed to live another day.  The marquee at the Varsitytheater, located on "The Drag" by the University of Texas, has been a prominent campus area landmark since the 1930's.  The space has been a record store and book store since i...

As of mid Febuary 2011, there are just over 100 active Downtown Austin condo listings for sale in the Austin MLS, plus another 300 or so developer owned units in new buildings. In the past 12 months, sales have averaged about 30-35 sales per month in Downtown Austin so inventory is slowly declini...

The Austin TX luxury home market was active in 2010.  In Travis County, sales of homes priced over $1 million increased 5% vs. 2009.  Just under 200 Austin luxury homes were sold in 2010 while the average size of homes sold decreased slightly, as did the time it took to sell a luxury home.  On av...

The slogan Keep Austin Weird must have been on the drunken minds of two men who rode horseback down E. 6th street in Downtown Austin last weekend.  In the heart of Austin's famous entertainment district, Austin police observed 2 men on horseback casually trotting down the street in traffic on a b...

Austin Independent School District (AISD) is considering closing several neighborhood schools in an effort to save money.  AISD is considered "property rich" and sends locally collected dollars to the state for redistribution. This redistribution plus  lower funding from the state and rising expe...

Austin ranks as a top US spot for young entrepreneurs according to Under30CEO.  Austin ranked third, behind New York City and San Francisco.  The CEOs were asked to think about resources, schools, events, climate, and the social scene that a young entrepreneur looks for.  Austin compared favorabl...

Travis County proposes to build a new courthouse on Republic Square Park in Downtown Austin.  Already a federal courthouse is under construction on the west side of this newly revitalized park and now a second courthouse for the county is proposed for the south side of the park.  Most recently, t...

W Austin hotel & condo residences opened the doors of the hotel and public lounge and restaurant in Downtown Austin this week.  I grabbed a few friends and headed to the Living Room lounge on the hotel's ground floor.  What a great job they did with these spaces.  The Living Room is really a seri...

If you own a Lake Austin waterfront home, the LCRA and city of Austin are giving you a chance to do repairs on your waterfront or dock.  Beginning January 3, 2011, water levels in Lake Austin will start dropping for three weeks and remain low until February 8.  This Lake Austin lowering also help...

Davenport Ranch, originally developed in the 1980's, is a popular neighborhood consisting of several phases in the Eanes ISD near Lake Austin and Loop 360 Capital of Texas Hwy.  The Austin Country Club is located at the north end of the development and Davenport Village offers shopping, services ...