BG Reads | News - April 13, 2022

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin airport expansion will mean more spaces for local stores, eateries (Austin Business Journal)

Retailers and restaurateurs should start considering their options for getting into the upcoming expansion of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Airport traffic is expected to roughly double in the coming decade, from?about 13.6 million passengers in 2021?to 30 million by 2040. So ABIA leaders hope to build?a second concourse?with at least 10 more gates in the coming years.

That will mean opportunities for restaurants and shops to open within what's being called "Concourse B" in planning documents. Final design and programming has not been decided, but officials estimate there will be about 19,000 square feet of food, beverage and retail space available.

The airport will finalize details for the commercial portion of the new concourse later this year, said?Mukesh Patel, airport chief business and finance officer. More information should then become available in 2023.

“All of this is highly dependent on what the airlines are committed in terms of gate count, and my team will work around that,” Patel wrote in an email to ABJ.

Patel’s goal is to issue a request for proposal in late 2025, with the new concourse expected to open in 2028. However, he noted the timeline remains fluid.

Austin-Bergstrom, airport code AUS, is already known for its varied and local retail offerings, from Hut's Hamburgers to Salt Lick BBQ, Toy Joy to 24 Diner.

For the new concourse, AUS officials are looking for concepts such as a ghost kitchen, a brewery, a wine bar, a distillery, a quick-service burger restaurant and a barbecue restaurant. The airport will also look for new technology concepts that include touch-less vending machines and robotic vending, Patel added.

Airport officials plan to reserve some concession storefronts for disadvantaged enterprises — such as those owned by minorities or women — to bid on in a packaged concept…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin office prices hit record high with Apple & Tesla driving growth, report says (KXAN)

Demand for office space in Austin is driving average asking rates to a record high in the first quarter of 2022, according to the latest report from real estate company CBRE Group.

Class A average asking rates were $53.34 per square foot, the first time it’s been above $50 since the company started tracking rates in 1989.

The group said Austin is one of the hottest markets for office development in the country, with 30 projects totaling nearly six million square feet currently under construction.

They said the bulk of those new spaces are in the Central Business District downtown and east Austin.

It’s a bounce back from the industry’s COVID slump, as employees return to work and demand for space surges.

“The continued trend of relocations and expansions in the region, spearheaded by the construction of Apple’s new campus in northwest Austin and Tesla’s corporate headquarters relocation to the new Gigafactory in southeast Austin, drove strong population growth in the region over the past two years,” the report states.

Apple opened its first office in Austin more than 25 years ago, according to the company. Its existing campus is on Parmer Lane, and the new $1 billion facility is being built adjacent to it…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Tech exec hired to lead Austin MLS-owned company (Austin Business Journal)

A new leader with a long history in the technology sector has been tapped to steer the Austin MLS’s recently acquired tech company.?

In October, Austin’s multiple listing service, known as the MLS, along with those in Atlanta, Kansas City and Miami, established a new company called MLS Technology Holdings LLC, which bought real estate software company Remine Inc.?

The purchase allows the Austin Board of Realtors to control the technology behind the MLS, where buyers, Realtors and lending agents access listings and pricing information. The idea is to make it more user-friendly and to adapt it to the market’s needs.??

Frederick Townes has been named the new chief executive officer of Remine. ABOR and ACTRIS MLS CEO Emily Chenevert is chairing the new company, and Remine co-founder Jonathan Spinetto will continue to serve as chief operating officer.?

Townes’ background is in various corners of the real estate and tech sectors. He co-founded companies NestReady —?a real estate tech company that aims to digitize the entire homebuying process —and Placester, a real estate marketing platform that helps agents build their own websites. He was also the founding chief technology officer of Mashable. His most recent role was as chief product officer at the education-technology company Ready Education…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin council advances plan to add park fees to all new commercial projects (Austin American-Statesman)

By unanimous vote, the Austin City Council approved a preliminary plan to require new commercial, industrial and office developments to pay a fee the city will use to acquire and develop parkland.

The fee already applies to new residential developments.

Thursday's decision requires the city manager's office to engage with community members before returning to the council with a proposed fee structure. The council must then approve that fee. That is likely to happen before the council approves the city?budget in August…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Delays, closures and chaos mount at Texas-Mexico border crossings from new state inspections (Texas Tribune)

Near the other end of Texas’ roughly 1,200-mile border with Mexico, in the Rio Grande Valley, no commercial vehicles crossed the busiest bridge in the region at all on Tuesday because for the second straight day, truckers on the Mexico side of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge?blocked all north- and southbound lanes in protest?of Gov.?Greg Abbott’s move to have state troopers inspect northbound commercial vehicles after they have already been searched by federal officers.

Normally, 3,000 commercial trucks cross the Pharr bridge each day, hauling about $60 million to $70 million worth of daily goods and services through the busiest land crossing for produce entering the U.S. from Mexico.

The ripple effects of Abbott’s decision last week to order the Texas Department of Public Safety to increase its inspections of commercial vehicles have been swift up and down the Texas-Mexico border. Abbott’s decision was a response to the Biden administration’s recent announcement that it plans to end Title 42 — a pandemic-era emergency health order that lets federal officials turn away migrants at the border?without the chance to request asylum…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Biden to announce plan to ease gas prices as inflationary pressures persist (Washington Post)

The White House plans to roll out new policies Tuesday aimed at curbing gas prices as it braces for a crushing new report that will show inflationary pressures on millions of Americans have intensified this year. President Biden will announce plans for the Environmental Protection Agency to allow a blended form of gasoline that uses ethanol, known as E15, to be sold this summer — a measure long resisted by some energy and environmental groups that could help deliver short-term relief at the pump. The administration will do this by having the EPA issue an emergency waiver for the summer sale of E15. Typically, E15 cannot be sold in most of the country between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of air pollution rules. The White House has argued that the use of E15 can shave 10 cents off each gallon of gasoline. E15 is currently sold in 30 states at more than 2,300 gas stations, the Energy Department has said, but that is just a fraction of the more than 150,000 gas stations in the United States.

The news will come during a day the president is set to visit the Poet ethanol plant near Des Moines as the administration pushes Congress to approve new energy subsidies aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on foreign fossil fuels. The flurry of activity around gas prices will come just hours after the federal government is scheduled to release an inflation report that could show prices rising by as much as 8 percent relative to last year, despite the Biden administration’s months-long efforts to bring inflation down. High prices have emerged as a nettlesome political problem for the White House, lowering Biden’s popularity even as the United States sees a boom in job growth and economic output. White House press secretary Jen Psaki attempted to preempt criticism over the new inflation report on Monday by blaming “Putin’s price hike.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ordered by President Vladimir Putin came at a time when many economists were optimistic that prices would begin to moderate, but energy and food prices have moved higher since the February invasion, given Russia’s centrality in providing those global commodities…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)