Austin

Austin Becomes The Latest Town To Sell Rolls-Royces

Keep Austin luxe? The Austin Statesman reports that the hip Texas town will soon be home to six Rolls-Royce models. Auto dealer Sonny Morgan is adding the luxury car to his posh lineup at the John Eagle European dealership this month. The dealership already features Lotus, Aston Martin and Bentley models. Morgan told the Statesman that he thinks the $250,000 Rolls Ghost is a good fit for Austin's younger, tech-loving buyers. Business is good it appears, Morgan said that he has already sold three cars so far, two to buyers in San Antonio and one in Austin. This is the third dealership in Texas, there are Rolls dealerships in Dallas and Houston.

Tags: austin, rolls-royce, texas

NFL Quarterback Vince Young's New Austin Steakhouse

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Sports

Last month NFL quarterback Vince Young became the latest football player to get into the restaurant business. Young currently plays for the Tennessee Titans but he played for the University of Texas and his new steakhouse is located in Austin. Young partnered with Laura McIngvale-Brown and her husband, chef Phillip Brown on the new venture, Vince Young Steakhouse. The steakhouse is located at 301 San Jacinto Blvd., a venue that already had its time in the spotlight as the home of MTV's "Real World: Austin."

The Longhorn spirit is in evidence in the decor. the lobby includes a Longhorn statue covered in copper pennies, with a large picture of Young behind it. The orangey/copper theme continues into the dining room and the walls also include images of Royal Memorial Stadium and photos of Young at the 2006 National Championship game. There is also a private area, the 10 Room which has a table shaped liked a football and a wall of wines signed by Young, some of which can be purchased and taken home.

Steaks are of course a specialty. The top of the line is the "Perfect Ten, a 10oz New York Strip of Strube Ranch Wagyu Beef, Pittsburg, Texas. Sides include bacon Mac and Cheese, brussels sprouts, sweet potato mash and haricots verts. For those not interested in steak there is a seared red snapper with a white wine and red pepper cream sauce; grilled salmon with sauteed sorrel, potato celery root hash, and grapefruit beurre blanc and pan-seared duck breast with winter vegetables and fingerling potatoes. Entrees range from $11 to $50. There is also a separate dessert menu that features the Forever Young chocolate cake, a warm chocolate cake with soft ganache center accompanied with vanilla bean ice cream and a honey crisp.

Young has said that he and his partners hope to expand the concept and open restaurants in other cities in the future.

Tags: austin, austin restaurants, celebrity restaurants, steakhouse, steakhouses, vince young, vince young steakhouse

Lakeshore Drive, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

We were recently in Austin, Texas to check out another Lake Austin property, the home of Andy Roddick, now were are back for another gorgeous lakefront home that belongs to a young success story. Today's home is owned by 31-year-old Douglas Jaffe, III, CEO of Horseshoe Bay Resort in the Texas Hill Country, which is owned by his prominent San Antonio-based family.

This home is a six-bedroom property that was renovated a few years ago, giving it a sleek, contemporary feel. Outside there are terraces with lake and city views, a negative-edge pool that cascades over the bluff into Lake Austin, and a lakeside lawn leading to the water's edge where the home has 100 feet of waterfront and a dock. A three-car glass-front garage also has additional guest quarters with a kitchen and bath. Other features include an exercise room, a media room, a game room with a wet bar and a master bedroom that has a fireplace, walk-in closet and dressing room. This home is listed at $3.995 million.

Gallery: Lakeshore Drive

Tags: austin, austin texas, lake austin, texas real estate

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Andy Roddick in Austin, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Tennis player Andy Roddick has listed his Lake Austin home. Housing Watch reports that Roddick's Texas home is on a cul de sac in the Westlake community. The four-bedroom home is on .71 acres and overlooks the lake.

The listing makes no secret that this is Roddick's home and even if it weren't mentioned in the description, images of Roddick, his wife Brooklyn Decker and plenty of tennis trophies adorn the home. The professional gym also features Roddick-centered murals. Property records at Property Shark indicate that Roddick bought the home in 2003 for $2,149,500. Decker and Roddick were married at the home in 2009.

The house was built in 1998 and has a home theater, gourmet kitchen with a huge pantry, formal dining room, a den with a pool table, a library with a poker table, and a master suite with a sitting room. Outside there is a patio, sports court and a boat dock with a lift (the sports court and boat lift were improvements Roddick made to the home). The listing says that all furniture and paintings are offered with purchase of home for $3.75 million. That's actually a bit of a price cut, Zillow reported back in March that the home was listed for $4 million even.

Gallery: Andy Roddick in Austin

Tags: andy roddick, austin, brooklyn decker, celebrity real estate, lake austin, texas real estate

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Four New W Hotels Set to Open Starting in December

by Ann Brenoff (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

File this under: You can never have too much of a good thing.

Four new W Hotels are debuting beginning this December. The new W's are in Austin, Texas; Taipei; Koh Samui Thailand; and a W Retreat and Spa in Bali. All are built-from-the-ground new facilities and all feature high-end resort-style amenities including cutting-edge restaurants and bars. Room rates vary by location and season, but are approximately $300 a night. The rollout plan begins in December and ends in February.

The W Austin, acknowledging the city's unofficial slogan of "Keep Austin Weird," captures the city's local flavor -- although hardly in a weird way. The 251-room hotel, with a rooftop pool and bar is surrounded by the city's hippest night spots and restaurants just steps from Sixth Street and the Warehouse District.

Tags: austin, bali, hotel opening, koh samui, new hotels, starwood, starwood hotels, tapei, w hotels

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Castello Sul Lago, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today's estate is a story of a listing price in freefall. A reader brought this lavish home in Spicewood, Texas to our attention. Back in February it was listed at $16 million but it's had some major price cuts.

Castello Sul Lago is in the gated Lakecliff subdivision in Spicewood, near Austin. The name is Italian for Castle on the Lake and the home overlooks a deep bend in Lake Travis. The more than 17,000-square-foot estate sits on about 31/2 acres. The elaborate home has marble floors, two-story Corinthian columns and spiral staircases with wrought-iron and gold-leaf railings. The home makes the most of the views. A two-story living room with a built-in wet bar overlooks the tranquil lake. The library is also two stories and has red walls, columns and a chandelier. A February article in the Statesman on the house says that all of the chandeliers are antiques from Europe.

The master bedroom has a fireplace and more amazing views. The complete master suite includes a bathroom with a dual-head shower room as well as two closet rooms and a cedar closet. The suite offers access to an outdoor hot tub a few stairs down. Other features include a wine cellar, a three-room art gallery, office, media room, and a third-floor ballroom with a wet bar. Outside there are three negative-edge pools and more than 6,000 square feet of outdoor terraces and balconies as well as a guest house, workout room and meditation room. Housekeeper's quarters are above the five-car garage.

AvenueOne Properties has the listing of the home which is now priced at just $9.8 million.

[Thanks, Blake!]

Gallery: Castello Sul Lago

Tags: austin, castello sul lago, estate of the day, texas real estate

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Lake Austin, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today's home commands a perfect shoreline spot on Lake Austin in Austin, Texas. The seven-acre spread is home to a three-story main house, two-bedroom guest house, a carriage house above the three-car garage, a one-bedroom gate house, boat house with three slips and a screened great room, a glass-walled gym, natatorium with an indoor swimming pool and more. The large main house has five bedrooms including an owner's suite with a river rock fireplace that separates it from the adjoining study. The home also has a large kitchen, formal living room, family room and more in an open and casual environment. With a total of nine bedrooms this estate has room for the whole extended family. It is listed at $12.9 million.

Gallery: Lake Austin

Tags: austin, estate of the day, lake austin, texas real estate

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Sabine On Fifth Complex, Eludes Foreclosure, Heads For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

More signs of condo fallout in Austin, Texas. A bunch of units from the Sabine on Fifth project will hit the auction block on February 28. The project, which is located in a 10-story former office building, escaped foreclosure after the owner CWS Capital Partners was given a loan extension. Auctioneer Kennedy Wilson will sell off 27 of the available 44 units (the building has 80 units total) with bids on one-bedroom units starting as low as $85,000 and two-bedroom starting at $195,000. The apartments were once listed near $204,900 and $550,000. Condo buyers will receive a one-year Tower Health Club and Spa membership and up to $1,500 in closing costs paid by the seller.

Tags: austin, condo, condo auction, CondoAuction, sabine on fifth, SabineOnFifth, texas

Top Ten Hotel Openings of 2009

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Hotels shutting their glass and filigree doors or going into some form of financial distress could have made more of this year's new than new openings; still, the quantity and quality of newly available suites to call your own felt just as stellar as in better years past. Sure, we didn't get the J line of hotels (yet), but we did get the Bardessono -- and 82 geothermal wells and hand-loomed Coyuchi linens are probably as good as anything Jay Z had to offer. Whittled to just ten, with the help of our friends over at TabletHotels.com, in no particular order here are Luxist's top openings of 2009...

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Ligne Roset Opens First Boutique, in Austin

by Lisa Palladino (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

Ligne Roset, a high-end, family-run (since 1860) furniture line that offers a range of products from furniture to lighting to upholstery, opened its first concept store, in Austin. The company focuses on smaller-scale, more design-forward pieces, and, unlike many of its competitors, allows consumers to purchase select pieces from the showroom and take them home directly. Some of its signature pieces are the origami-inspired Facett collection and Pierre Paulin's 1954 Tanis Desk. See the gallery for a few shots of the store.

Gallery: Ligne Roset Store, Austin

Tags: Austin, decor, furniture, Ligne Roset, LigneRoset, Texas

Another Year of Avo, Another New Release

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Why do we love it when Avo Uvezian adds another year to his life? Of course, we celebrate the continued life of this cigar industry's living legend. But, few miss the fact that every new year brings with it another limited edition. I'm still excited about the Avo 80 that came out a few years back – well, three, to be exact. Now that the odometer's hitting 83, Avo and Davidoff are bringing a new cigar to market: the Avo Compañero.

The cigar's namesake calls it "the best blend ever released under my name from the Occidental Kelner Cigars factory in the Dominican Republic." And, let's face it: he's never lied to us before! So, I'm pretty excited about this new stick, and I suspect I'm not alone.

To fête this new cigar, a nine-city tour is planned, each with a cigar dinner featuring the Avo Compañero.

• March 16 - New York, NY – Davidoff of Geneva
• March 18 – Salem, NH – Two Guys Smoke Shop
• March 21 - Lake Mary, FL – Corona Cigar Co.
• March 26 – Houston, TX – Jeffrey Stone Ltd.
• March 27 – Austin, TX – Heroes & Legacies
• March 30 - West Chester, PA – G&G Cigar
• April 1 - Norfolk, VA – Emerson's Cigars
• April 4 – Raleigh, NC – Empire Cigars
• April 6 – Southport, NC – Havana Rays Fine Cigars

Put it on your calendar. I went to an Avo limited edition dinner back in 2006, and I can still remember the evening vividly.

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Tags: austin, cigar, cigarette smoking, CigaretteSmoking, cigars, davidoff, dominican republic, DominicanRepublic, florida, houston, manhattan, new york, NewYork, texas, tobacco

Big Hotel Project On Hold In Austin

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

For the last few years it's been build, build, build in growing Austin, Texas but the Austin American-Statesman reports that Austin's biggest hotel project, a planned 1,000-room Marriott on Congress Avenue has now been postponed. The $275 million project is the largest project among eight hotels had been planned for downtown. It's just one of several projects having trouble getting and keeping financing. Construction of the 26-story Marriott originally was to have started this year, was then shifted to 2009 and now there is now start date planned.

The developer, White Lodging Services Corp. had said the 1,000-room hotel would generate 600 jobs and $7 million a year in property and hotel occupancy taxes to the city. The proposed project was the subject of some controversy because it meant closing the popular Las Manitas Cafe.

The article in the Statesman reports that some developers are planning to wait a year or two until the economy improves which may mean a bumper crop of condos and hotels in 2011.

Gallery: Austin Projects

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Tags: austin, marriott, texas

Star Luxe Penthouses in Austin

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

When I was in Austin last spring and snapped the picture above I was surprised by how many cranes marked the sky and how many condo projects were being built. Now another luxury project has been announced for the Texas city. The Star Luxe by Constellation Group with architects Marchese + Partners International is a collection of 18 penthouses being built on Lady Bird Lake. The Star Luxe residences have three designs: 'The Guitar', shaped by the lines of the instrument, 'The Salazar', fashioned after an imagined artist within the Art Nouveau movement, and 'The International', modeled after Marchese's signature ultra-modern designs.

The Star Luxe will be a full service complex with a 24-hour concierge. Each unit at Star Luxe includes a safe room with comprehensive surveillance, secure garage spaces, wine storage, water filtration system, and exclusive Italian kitchens with Gagganeau appliances. Moveable glass walls will blur the line between indoor and outdoor spaces. The 4,000 square foot penthouses also have large balconies overlooking the lake. Amenities include a private spa, outdoor pool with BBQ, private cinema, pet exercise area and a Zen garden. No word yet on price or when the project will be completed.

Gallery: Austin Projects

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Tags: austin, condo, star luxe, StarLuxe

The Kimber Modern, A New Type of Bed and Breakfast in Austin

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The soon-to-open Kimber Modern in Austin, Texas eschews the typically quaint look of the standard bed and breakfast. Kimber Cavendish and Vicki Faust shared a dream of launching a unique hotel in the hip Soco area of Austin. Architect Burton Baldridge has created an angular retreat that offers six rooms, a tranquil courtyard and a light-filled common area that includes a multi-level deck. Breakfast is self-serve and available from 7 to 11 a.m. The Kimber Modern opens to guests on October 10 and is now taking reservations. Standard rooms are $295-$320 a night, suites, which include a seating area with a custom couch designed by Burton Baldrige are $350 to $395 per night.

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Tags: architecture, austin, bed and breakfast, BedAndBreakfast, hotel, kimber modern, KimberModern, modern, texas

The Great Houses of Texas

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Estates, Books

Photo by Grant Mudford

The Lone Star State, which was part of Mexico until 1836, is not particularly known for its architectural treasures. There are some amazing estates scattered among its vast tracts, however, as author Lisa Germany and photographer Grant Mudford reveal in their excellent new book, Great Houses Of Texas (Abrams, $50). The Texan landscape -- "combined with the larger-than-life personalities who were drawn to the brutal hardships of the frontier and the architects who designed these extraordinary homes" -- is the unifying theme of the 25 houses, ranging from the intimate to the ornate, collected in the book. Among them is the beautiful Crespi Mansion in Dallas, designed by Swiss architect Maurice Fatio in 1939, pictured above; and the Nowlin House in Austin designed by Paul Lamb in 2002, which was partially based on Mayan ruins. See the gallery for more.

Gallery: Great Houses of Texas