A project with 179 residences to be operated by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is due to break ground next year. The condo development will be located on Shepherd Mountain, on one of the last undeveloped tracts overlooking Lake Austin. An inclined elevator with two cabins will residents a two-minute ride down the steeply sloped hillside to planned boat docks below. Contributed by DBOX for Austin Capital Partners.
Just a few months after sales launched, potential buyers have reserved more than half of the luxury Four Seasons-branded residences planned for a high-profile cliff overlooking Lake Austin.
The sales pace for the units is another sign of the Austin region's continued rising real estate market, including the high-end segment, housing industry experts say.
The 179 residences in the Four Seasons project are due to break ground next year. Prices start at $4.1 million.
Reservations began in late September, and hit the half-way mark in just four months, said Eric Moreland, broker associate with Moreland Properties who is handling sales.
Officially named Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin, the condominium project will be located on one of the last undeveloped tracts overlooking Lake Austin. The 145-acre site is off Bridge Point Parkway and Loop 360, west of the Pennybacker Bridge.
The land had long been owned by oil giant Exxon Mobil, which at one time planned to build its headquarters there.
The development is a venture between Austin Capital Partners, whose founders include the current landowner, Austin entrepreneur Jonathan Coon; Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts; and Hines, a global real estate investment firm based in Houston.
"It's an extremely rare opportunity for buyers, and the first time in a generation we are able to satisfy the tremendous demand for exceedingly scarce Lake Austin property," Moreland said.
Asked about the prices of the units buyers have reserved, Moreland said via email: "Out of privacy to our buyers, we do not release pricing for residences under contract or earnest money figures."
More: One of the last undeveloped hilltops overlooking Lake Austin set for Four Seasons condo project
Reservations for the units come as home prices in the Austin area continue to spiral up amid the region's population and job growth, including strong growth in the tech industry.
Companies including Tesla and Oracle now are headquartered here, and Apple, Samsung, Facebook, Google and other tech firms are expanding. The growth is transforming the region, bringing in many affluent newcomers, Central Texas housing market experts and real estate agents say.
Mark Sprague, a longtime Austin-area housing market expert with Independence Title, said that "the strength of the luxury market in Austin continues to astound even the most experienced."
Sprague said the region's job growth — and the lack of new housing supply that has challenged the market for years — "in turn caused incredible sales increases" in homes priced at more than $1 million over the past decade.
Sales in that price segment shot up 52% in 2020 and 89% in 2021, Sprague said. That level of increase is "unusual historically," he said.
"None of this would be happening without the phenomenal job creation we have had the last 10 years," Sprague said.
Nationally, the luxury housing market "has improved dramatically over the last decade but has really escalated during (the pandemic)," Sprague said.
For the Four Seasons project, "location, view, potential amenities and global brand recognition help this particular location and offering," Sprague said.
The site is surrounded by 2,000 acres of green space, and has views of Lake Austin, the Pennybacker Bridge and the downtown skyline.
Coon has said 90 of the 145 acres will be preserved as green space or public parkland.
Moreland said the project has seen an "overwhelming reception."
“The project’s early success is a testament to the Four Seasons brand, as well as the developers’ passion and superior commitment to uncharted luxury," Moreland said.
The Four Seasons residences will be located throughout 18 buildings, with views from 280 feet to 380 feet above Lake Austin.
Homes will range in size from 1,900 square feet to 7,000 square feet. Parking will be available under each residence.
Buyers already have reserved more than half of the 179 condominiums in the Four Seasons-branded project planned for a landmark hilltop overlooking Lake Austin. Experts say the sales are another sign of the region's continued rising real estate market, including the hind-end segment. Prices for the Four Seasons residences, which are due to break ground next year, start at $4.1 million.
The project will include a private marina; a clubhouse; an infinity-edge pool; an owners' boating club and a funicular — or inclined elevator — running from the hilltop to Lake Austin.
Plans also call for a fine-dining restaurant; a cafe; an athletic center with private training rooms; golf simulators; squash courts; basketball, tennis and pickleball courts; and a children’s gym and play area.
A four-story office building with 160,000 square feet of space also is planned on the site.
The Lake Austin property also joins a growing global collection of standalone Four Seasons Private Residences in London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Marrakech, as well as a project in Dubai.
The project is being called standalone because it won't be accompanied by a Four Seasons Hotel, as is the case with the Four Seasons Residences in downtown Austin.
In an email in November, Charles Heimsath, an Austin real estate consultant, said the Four Seasons brand "is among the most coveted and should provide enhanced value to the residential units."
"It is, without question, one of the most spectacular locations for residential development outside of downtown Austin," Heimsath said.
