The Early Bird

We’re so proud! 

One of our favorite clients, and now, long-time friends, Richard Fellows was recently featured in the Austin American Statesman’s portrayal of downtown residents.  What the article doesn’t say is that Richard has also successfully invested in several other downtown projects.  With a background in financial advising - as managing director of the Morgan Keegan Austin branch, we feel confident to say that in this case, its not just Realtors and developers who are padding and puffing the real estate investment success of a local.  See Richard’s success for yourself.

A new study done by Intuit, (parent company of Turbo Tax) recently named Austin 4th on the top ten tax procrastinators list.  But should this be any surprise?  A self-proclaimed city of hippies could be to blame, or perhaps its just that in Austin, there’s just too many better things to do than sit at the kitchen table and punch a calculator.  According to the study, this is Austin’s second year as #4 on the list, ahead of both Dallas and San Antonio (which both round out the top 11), but preceded by Chicago at #1, New York City at #2, and Houston at #3.  So if enjoying our fun-loving, nature-inspired city is our reason for the late night number crunching . . . what’s Houston’s excuse?  Either way, if you’re one of the last to file, looks like your neighbor isn’t far behind you.  As always, misery loves company.  Read the full article here.

More recent job announcements for Austin is good news for the area:

Global ad firm WPP is combining with Dell to form a branch firm called “Project DaVinci”.  The firm will start out as the dedicated ad agency for Dell, consolidating their advertising efforts to a single office.  Eventually, they plan to expand into other accounts with additional clients that do not compete with Dell.  The firm recently signed a lease for 70,000 SF at Capitol Tower at 9th & Brazos.  The building was recently renovated by Pomeroy Investments – the same firm that is completing the Brazos Lofts across the street.  Project DaVinci plans to open later this year with 200 employees, making it the second largest ad firm in town, surpassing T3.

Capitol Tower Rendering  www.capitoltoweron9th.com

Also, Dimensional Fund Advisors, which opened shop in Austin about a year ago, recently announced that they have awarded the $27million finish-out contract for their new office at the Palisades office complex at 360 & Bee Caves to Spaw Glass general contractors.  Dimensional plans to expand their Austin office to 800 employees over a 10 year period.  Learn more about Dimensional Fund Advisors here.