Kimberly Olson

According to the City of Georgetown (Jan '08), The Summit at Rivery Park is in the zoning stage. Ground breaking and construction may begin as early as this summer.

The Summit development plans contain an eight- to ten-story hotel (320-420 rooms), conference center (accommodating 1500-2500 people), a six-story office tower, 2 upscale restaurants, four office condominiums, and parking garages.

The development is designed to keep the buildings' footprints as small and unobtrusive as possible. Building up, instead of out, will help to minimize the impact on the beautiful area along the North Fork and will keep urban "sprawl" at a minimum as well. Current zoning limits only allow a 45-foot vertical height, but an application to address this situation should be coming from the developers soon, if it hasn't already been been filed.

Renderings of the project were unveiled to the city in June by the LedgeStone Group.

I received a comment over the weekend from JK referring to Citigroup's new Georgetown data center.

Here's the scoop:

Citigroup bought a 55-acre site on SE Inner Loop in Georgetown in back in January of 2007. It has already completed construction on the new building and is up and running. The financial services expected to hire about 50 people (for current positions available go to: https://www.citigroupcib.com/careers) with an average salary of approximately $70k/year.

As for how it could affect home sales, it depends on a few things, such as:

--Will employees move here from out-of-town/state?
-If so, we could see an increase in area home sales.

--Do local employees already own their home?
-These folks may sell their current homes to move closer to work or possibly buy a larger home if their income is increased. Or they could choose to stay in their current homes; in this case the new employment wouldn't affect the real estate market directly.

--What about employees who currently rent?
-With a new, stable job, some folks can't wait to invest in their own home. Again, this could cause an increase in home sales.

But no matter what the new jobs mean for the local real estate market, they will definately have a positive effect in Georgetown's economy. We'll have to wait and see how big it will be.

The neighborhood slogan of "Bringing Back the Neighborhood" truly fits this area. Friendly neighbors, abundant parks and greenspace, and lots of sidewalks makes Georgetown Village a great place to live.

The real estate market in Georgetown Village is still going strong. New homes being built in the community have contributed to the increase in the number of home sales and have also helped to increase the average sales price. The following table shows the last 2 years of home sale statistics, and if 2008 follows this pattern, the neighborhood should be in good shape in regards to resale values.

*As of 2/13/08. Compiled from information obtained from the Austin Board of Realtors. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Here's a list of Georgetown Events for the remainder of February and Early March. Hope to see you there!

Georgetown Symphony Society - March 2 - 512.864.9591

Georgetown Home and Garden Show - March 3 - 800.436.8696

4th Annual "Antiques on the Gabriel" - March 3 & 4 - 512.461.2941

"1st Tuesday Benefits" @ Fish City Grill - March 4 - 512.864.7400

First Friday on the Downtown GeorgetownSquare - March 7

Georgetown Library February Schedule for Children:

Feb. 19 & 26: Table games for all ages

Feb. 20, 21, 27, 28, 29: Storytime

Feb. 22 & 29: Chess club

Feb. 25: Baby & Me Storytime

Feb. 26: Sign language classes (open to all ages)

Georgetown Library February Schedule for Young Adults:

Feb. 22: Are you game?

Georgetown Library February Schedule for Adults:

Feb. 20: Intro to Computers Class

Feb. 26: Internet Safety for Parents

Feb. 27: Intro to Computers

Feb. 29: Intro to Excel Class

Advanced registration may be required. Call The Georgetown Public Library at 512-930-3551 or visit http://library.georgetown.org for more information.

The increase in number of homes sold since 2004. The number of homes sold over the last four years supports statistics from The US Census Bureau, which ranked Williamson County the 16^th fastest growing county in the nation. With continued growth, I expect the home market in this area to remain strong and stable. If you'd like more detailed statistics on Williamson County home sales, visit http://www.texasland.net/CommunityInfo/CommunityInfo.htm