Liz Reyna is a Downtown Austin Luxury High-Rise Specialist with @properties Lone Star, Christie's International Real Estate, the sales brokerage for Austin's major new condominium developments. A real estate investor for more than 20 years with a background in institutional finance, she analyzes new construction the way a buyer of an unbuilt asset should: deposit risk, delivery timing, association budgets and exit liquidity, not renderings.
Last updated September 2026. Figures are drawn from developer announcements and public reporting as of the dates noted, and change as projects sell.
For private tours across Austin's luxury new developments, including Canyon Ranch and The Overlook at Westlake, see New Developments.
300 Pressler Street, between downtown and Lady Bird Lake
Formerly The Belvedere, the project became Viceroy's first Texas residential address in July 2026, a standalone branded residence with no attached hotel. Designed by KTGY with interiors by Kim Lewis Designs, the two buildings sit on three acres with a 75 foot pool, a wellness spa with cold plunge and saunas, and an on site trailhead connecting directly to the Lady Bird Lake trail. Per the developer's July 2026 announcement, it is the only new construction luxury condominium slated for delivery near downtown Austin over the next two years.
Scarcity is the story. With no competing luxury delivery near downtown for two years, Viceroy buyers are underwriting a supply window, not just a floor plan. The questions that matter before contract: deposit schedule and refundability, what constitutes completion, and how the association budget is projected while the developer controls the board.
84 East Avenue, Rainey Street District
Vesper is the completed option in the pipeline: a 41 story tower at the edge of the Rainey Street entertainment district with a 41st floor pool and rooftop lounge, three curated finish schemes, and standing inventory a buyer can walk today. That makes it the control case against which pre construction pricing elsewhere should be tested.
A completed building with developer inventory removes delivery risk entirely and prices in the Rainey location, its energy and its noise. For a buyer weighing Vesper against a forward commitment, the comparison is a certain unit today versus a projected one in 2027, and certainty has a price worth calculating rather than assuming.
Southwest Parkway and Highway 71, Texas Hill Country
The first UMusic property in the United States and the first with private residences, built around the White Rocks Amphitheater on a 71 acre site above Hill Country preserve, with recording studios, performance venues and a wellness campus. It is entertainment led resort living rather than urban high rise product, and roughly 70 percent of the site is planned to remain open space.
This is the longest dated and highest variance project in the pipeline: a first of its kind concept, a 2029 horizon, and approvals still moving. The diligence emphasis belongs on entitlement status, deposit protection and the operator agreement, and the position sizing should reflect that a buyer here is early in every sense.
2323 South Lamar Boulevard, Zilker
A boutique hotel and residence hybrid: owners hold fully furnished condos with hotel style service and can place units into AvantStay's management program for rental revenue when not in residence. It arrived just as Austin tightened short term rental licensing and platform enforcement in 2026, which is precisely the niche the professionally managed model is built for.
This is an income product, so it should be underwritten on net yield after management fees, dues and taxes, not on price per square foot against conventional condos. The regulatory position is the asset: managed hotel condo structures sidestep the licensing friction individual short term rental owners now face.
Lake Austin, roughly 20 minutes from downtown
The most expensive new development product in the Austin market and a different asset class from downtown high rise living: waterfront, privacy and brand service in place of walkability. A dedicated analysis is on the Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin page.
The premium buys scarcity that downtown cannot replicate: Lake Austin waterfront with a marina does not get rebuilt. The trade is liquidity, since the resale pool at these prices is thin, so the hold horizon should be long and the entry basis matters more than in any downtown tower.
The developer contract is not a standard resale contract and deserves review by a Texas real estate attorney. The load bearing terms are the deposit schedule and its refundability, completion extensions and what legally constitutes completion, permitted changes to square footage and finishes, assignment rights, parking and storage, the projected association budget, and how long the developer controls the board. Texas law also gives purchasers from a declarant specific document rights, including a cancellation window tied to receipt of the condominium information statement, which is a protection worth understanding before signing rather than after.
As unsecured exposure to the developer until the terms say otherwise. The questions are where the deposit is held, under what conditions it returns, and what happens on developer default or material change. A buyer putting six figures into a 2027 delivery is extending credit, and the contract terms are the only collateral.
It is a different trade, not a better one. Pre construction offers first selection of lines and views and today's pricing on tomorrow's building, against delivery risk, deposit exposure and no resale history. A completed tower can be walked, and its dues, reserves and resale record are observable. The forward commitment earns its place when the building is genuinely differentiated or supply constrained, which is the current argument near downtown, where one luxury project holds the two year delivery window.
Buyer representation across Austin's new developments, with access through the sales brokerage for Vesper, Viceroy Residences Austin, The Code and UMusic Hotel and Private Residences. Messages are read and answered by Liz Reyna.