Sutton Co just went under contract on a site along Waller Creek and the lake, and it’s planning a major mixed-use to serve Downtown's growth, including the new Oracle campus and UT med school/teaching hospital. Chairman Mac Pike, who’ll be speaking at Bisnow’s Austin Multifamily Boom event June 29, shared the details.

The tract housed an old condo project called the Villas On Town Lake, but it and Sutton’s adjacent Waller Park Place site will be redeveloped with 440 multifamily units and 75k SF of office in one building and condo and hotel offerings in another (rendering below). Mac hopes to be under construction on the multifamily/office building by the end of 2017; he tells us his team will start the permit process almost immediately.

Although new projects have been trending to smaller units, Mac’s contemplating larger floor plans in the Villas project because there’s a gap in the market for product serving the flood of empty nesters to Downtown Austin. Waller Park Place with condos and hotels will break ground this year or early next.

Mac tells us he’s bullish on basically all Austin property types. There’s been a lot of multifamily inventory added, but it’s balanced by the velocity of people moving here.

That’s particularly true in the CBD, where Sutton operates. He doesn’t predict a downturn in the apartment space, but says if there were one, it’d spur a flight to quality and amazing locations, like the Villas/Waller Park site on the lake. The property is near Oracle’s new facility and is one mile from the medical school; 15,000 new potential renters will be flocking to the area soon.

As for office, Sutton can build 1M SF in its projects, and Mac says there’s high demand for new product but few feasible sites Downtown. He’s already talking to some major tenants for the Waller Creek building. Likewise, he’s already nearly finalized the flags for the Waller Park Place hotel project, and says that market is strong.

Learn more about Sutton’s new projects and Mac’s take on the Austin multifamily market on June 29, when Mac presents at Bisnow’s Austin Multifamily Boom event at the JW Marriott. Sign up here.