Austin Business Journal shares, "A downtown Austin apartment building has hit the market.
The building, called Elle West Ave. and located at 300 West Ave. across the street from a Trader Joe’s, is for sale, according to a listing from commercial real estate firm Newmark, which is marketing the building. Elle West Ave. is both a value-add opportunity and a redevelopment opportunity, said Patton Jones, vice chairman of Newmark’s Central Texas office.
Built in 2000, it has 205,125 square feet of space and four stories, with 239 apartments. Jones said it also has 6,536 square feet of ground-floor retail occupied by small businesses such as salons.
As of August, the apartments were 92.5% occupied and the retail space was 100% occupied.
The identity of the seller hasn't been disclosed, but Jones said it's an individual using the name 300 West Ave LLC.
An expected sale price wasn't disclosed. For tax purposes, however, the property was most recently appraised at $27.2 million. Offers for Elle West Ave. are due by Sept. 30.
While the apartment building is for sale, the land that it sits on — which is owned by the city of Austin — isn't. The city entered into a ground lease with the original developer, and 44 years still remain on it, according to Jones.
The exterior of the building has been repainted several times but the apartments have never been renovated. Jones said that makes the building a prime candidate to add value to through renovation.
“The value-add investment space is huge relative to any other investment bucket,” Jones said. “That’s primarily driven by the ability to buy (a property) today, putting $10,000 to $20,000 per unit into the upgrade of the unit interiors and then increasing the rental rates.”
For Elle West Ave., he said, the goal would be to remain a low rent provider for downtown Austin, while providing an upgraded and more contemporary interior to the units.
Located on roughly 3 acres, Elle West Ave. is a candidate for redevelopment as well, but that could be challenging. The eastern side of the property falls within the Capitol view corridor, which would limit how high developers could build. The western side isn't within a view corridor, however, meaning an L-shaped building that's taller on the western side and shorter on the eastern side would be an option, according to Jones.
The ground lease is another challenge for redevelopment. With so much time remaining on it, developers would need to negotiate with the city to “come to a happy agreement that the city is happy with, the developer can make economically feasible and can also be a real amenity to Austin residents,” Jones said."
Source: Austin Business Journal
Written by: Cody Baird
Published: September 1, 2025
Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on
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