Why Austin?
The idea for Zeta House came about in early 2023. While exploring the US looking for a good location to break ground for Matrix AI US, we found that it was difficult to find rental accommodation that was suitable for working. For example, on AirBnB, few places would list a dedicated workspace, and their dedicated workspace would end up being a tiny console-like desk, with an uncomfortable chair placed in dark location, and without any consideration for ergonomics and vibe.
The exploration took us from San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, to eventually Austin with a side of Phoenix and Houston.
Austin surprised us with the density of community, energy and activity, the perfect demographics, favourable legal environment, and an axis of attractions that suited the creation of a coliving and coworking space. The economic macro-trends of Austin and the Texas triangle was also a rising tide for population increase.
There were also several key people located in Austin Texas who had similar ideas and had already setup coliving spaces. These people were critical to solidifying the vague idea of a coliving space into Zeta House.
While the city had the right foundation, the next step was determining the exact property that would work. There were several dimensions we had to consider and constraint-optimize on, and that's how it led us towards setting up in East Austin.
Walkability
Walking is the most natural mode of transportation for humans. It was critical that one could walk from the property to nature, restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, community events and be able to bridge to other kinds of transportation networks. Walkability also implied cycling and scootering was safe and easy.
Walkability is not something you can understand from the map alone. It is necessary to walk the neighborhood from early morning to night, from being in the cold, to being in the heat.
Proximity, quality of the streets, the amount of traffic, level of shade, air quality, feeling of safety at night all factor into walkability.
Being walkable meant that a car was not a necessity. And as we have found out in Zeta House, that the car is not a must-have but instead an optional add on to people's experience if they wanted to visit areas away from the Austin core.
Nature
The biggest natural feature of Austin is the Colorado River/Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. This added a significant aesthetic appeal to the city. It was important to be within walking distance of the river.
The lake is formed by dams on each side, and paddle boarding, kayaking, fishing, boating and turtles are significant attractions.
Economics
Based on our observation, Austin exhibits both technology-oriented economics as well as Texas-oriented economics.
Austin is known as Silicon Hills. It's still a baby compared to San Francisco. But the ground reality is that with the rise of remote work, this doesn't really matter.
Texas also benefits from being a net energy producer and having a border with Mexico enabling lower-cost manufacturing and services. This all contributes to a lower cost of production, enabling more efficient usage of resources.
Incomes would have to be able to support the rental costs of the property, and in turn the rental costs would also have to support the interest costs and property taxes. Austin's median income is currently between 70 to 80,000.
Culture
Austin feels like a small town community combined with a pursuit of change and growth. As of now (2024) you can still see cranes on its downtown skyscrapers, within 15 minutes drive, you'll see highways still being built. It has very young energy.
East Austin historically was redlined by the I-35 highway, therefore it's development is relatively recent. There are still lots of undeveloped land. East Austin still retains the weirdness of Austin compared to West Austin, which is far more manor-like (bougie). This has created a unique situation where East Austin has suburban-like living but it's walkable to the city downtown.
https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/78702/ - Austin is one of the youngest
cities in the US
Productive youth is demographically one the most important signals for future growth.
Hospitality
The neighbourhood by which a property is located in serves as an extension of the life-support system for the entire population. It's important to avoid monoculture in both natural and artificial ecosystems as it is prone to cascading failure.
Therefore nearby restaurants, bars, clubs, cafes, churches, music, fields, courts, event-spaces would create an environment of diverse activities. This overlapping ecosystem is more like an organic system that avoids urban/suburban deserts that tend to characterise many mass-manufactured suburbs.
Events
Austin is also known for 4 major events:
- South by South West (SXSW)
- Austin City Limits (ACL)
- Formula 1 United States Grand Prix
- Trail of Lights
SXSW is an unique event in the US blending Music, Film, Media and Technology. It has a global brand and attracts visitors from the entire world. It's also within walkable distance from East Cesar Chavez.
All these 4 events attract around 400,000 visitors annually.
Public Transportation
The US has a poor reputation in public transportation for a variety of reasons.
However the only operational train-line (not including inter-state) to downtown ran through East Cesar Chavez to East Austin and further north.
Expansion plans for the transportation network would likely expand using this red line as a starting point.
While these are in the planning stages, if and when they are completed they would enable a much higher density of population in the city core. Especially as the roads in the city core are already gridlocked at rush-hour every day, and that doesn't include all the major events that attract visitors.
Legal Environment
Texas has no state income tax. It however has one of the highest property taxes in the US. This creates a favourable environment for high-income workers while also forcing the land to be used for productive purposes, instead of being sat-on. Property owners are therefore forced to ensure that the land is used profitably. This creates a dynamism in the land-usage compared to more geriatric states.
There is also contention between local city politics and state politics when it comes to how land owners make use of their property - especially in the case of the short-term rental market. Restrictions are likely to be reduced as population demand for housing increases, and increased desire for density.
The Actual Property Itself
After all the constraints were considered, 3 main areas in Austin were considered suitable.
Although area 1 (East Cesar Chavez) was considered to to be the area that best fit all dimensions, 2 other areas were considered: West Austin and South West Austin.
In the end, we found the perfect location for Zeta House in East Cesar Chavez.
This was due to to the property itself.
Many single family homes in Texas are built around the single family. However this leads to a particular architectural layout where there is a large master bedroom that takes up a lot of space and many smaller bedrooms.
Zeta House's master bedroom isn't really all that different from the other bedrooms. This meant that it allowed the other bedrooms to still have generous space.
Furthermore, the property possessed a living room that was situated above the kitchen and away from the bedrooms. This created a very nice physical work-life separation.
The property was located on 2 corners, enabling up to 3 ingress/egress points, which was important for further expansion in the future.
Externally the property was very unique. With white stucco walls and castle-like iron fences and gates, arranged in a north-south axis that would enable cross-shade from the hot Texas sun.
https://drajmarsh.bitbucket.io/sunpath3d.html
Internally, the bathroom layout was also suitable to coliving, with large sharable bathrooms and smaller ensuites. Hardwood floors would simplify cleaning and suited natural materials and color pallete.
However the property would need renovation work: rooms, gardening, deck and more, but that will be a topic for a subsequent post.