Austin Proper Hotel & Residences to open by mid-2019

After breaking ground more than two years ago, luxury property is Austin Proper Hotel & Residences is preparing to open it brand-new building in Downtown Austin—in time for the summer travel season (June) if not in time for SXSW 2019.

The Austin location is the chain’s first outside of California and was chosen for the brand’s expansion because the city is “booming, vibrant, creative, and just plain cool,” said Brian De Lowe, president and co-founder of the Kor Group and Proper Hospitality.

The 33-story, 500,000-square-foot luxury space includes 244 guest rooms and 99 luxury condos for sale as well as three restaurants, two bars, an outdoor lounge, two elevated swimming pools, a full-service spa and wellness facility, and nearly 10,000 square feet of meeting space—more “tech-enabled” event and meeting space than any other Proper hotel, as a matter of fact.

The company has been marketing and selling its residences pretty much from the get-go, and Proper Hospitality announced Tuesday that 70 percent of its condos have sold at record-setting prices per square foot.

The project, located at 600 West Second Street, is one of the key pieces in the redevelopment of the Downtown blocks that used to house the city’s former Green Water Treatment Plant. It will join the nearby West Second Street retail district, the Seaholm Power Plant Redevelopment, and the new Central Library in the now-bustling area; the tower also looks over Lady Bird Lake and is close to Downtown working spaces, including local Facebook and Google headquarters.

The hotel and residences interiors were designed by Kelly Wearstler, who was inspired by some of the city’s historic, Craftsman-style homes, and references Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts motifs, joinery techniques, textures, and materials. Wearstler’s design also includes work by local makers and uses some indigenous Austin materials.

Austin Proper Hotel prices will start at $350 per night.