The transformation of Rainey Street District continues with the groundbreaking Thursday morning on Natiivo Austin.
The high-rise building at 48 East Avenue is being built for home-sharing by Austin-based Pearlstone Partners and Newgard Development Group., based in Miami.
The condos allow owners to own, stay and share their condos and is powered by Airbnb, a platform for home-sharing for new buildings, according to Forbes. The building is set to open in 2021, the 48 East hotel will feature 33 floors and 249 units available in 16 individual floor plans. The studios, one- and two-bedroom hotel-licensed homes start at $400,000.
Newgard Development Group is also building a similar high-rise condo building in Miami.
At the ground-breaking in Austin, Robert Lee, founder, and CEO of Pearlstone Partners joined Harvey Hernandez, co-founder, and CEO of Miami-based Newgard Development Group and NGD Homesharing, during a ceremony to mark the start of construction. Austin-based architecture and interior design firm STG Design served as architect on the project.Aecom/Hunt is the construction firm building the project.
The two also announced Thursday that 100 units have been reserved since the project was announced a month ago.
“When I first met with Harvey and his team, I quickly realized that our visions for this site completely aligned,” Lee said in a statement. “We knew this concept of allowing an individual to buy into a hotel would work well for a city like ours. We’re Austin, after all: creative, forward-thinking, flexible, open-minded, and certainly no stranger to shared economies and industry disruption. I take great pride in our city for being the first to bring this concept to market, nationally.”
As part of the groundbreaking ceremony, Natiivo Austin made a $5,000 donation to the Rainey Neighbors Association,
“We are grateful for the opportunity to begin building a strong partnership with Natiivo,” Rainey Neighbors Association President Sandra De Leon. De Leon said in a statement. “It’s so important for neighbors and developers to work together to shape a vibrant, sustainable neighborhood that thrives. Together we can all do our part to be good stewards of the community.”
