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Browse Old Austin Grouch posts about real estate creep, Austin nostalgia, and the city habits locals still argue about.
Use this topic hub to explore satire, memories, and cultural commentary about real estate creep in Austin, Texas.
The four-bedroom at 38th and Duval once housed five roommates, two stray cats, Thursday night noise violations, and rent under $2,000 total; now The Duval Collective features keyless entry that snitches on guests, a wellness garden where the halfpipe stood, and rents over $4k where the old porch parties happened.
7 min read
The avocado-green bungalow at Fourth and Comal housed nurses, bike mechanics, and late-night guitar pickers for decades at $875 a month with a backyard that smelled like mesquite smoke and cheap beer; it's now The Comal Collective, 18 micro-units starting at $4,150 with a "biophilic wellness garden" where the mesquite tree stood and marketing copy about honoring East Austin that somehow forgot the people.
6 min read
The guy in $400 boots at The Rivet on East 6th and Comal announced it had 'that old Austin feel' right after dropping $41 on two cocktails; the place kept the auto-shop sign from 1973 and the pitted concrete floor but added a $12 cover, QR menus, and upstairs lofts starting at $925k that market the 'grit' they just priced out of existence.
6 min read
The yellow bungalow at 912 Holly kept its screen door squeak, its porch swing chains, and its every-Sunday domino table for decades; last month the lot got scraped to bare dirt for four "heritage-modern" townhomes starting at $1.15M with rooftop decks, app-controlled lighting, and a marketing video that somehow forgot to mention the man who actually lived there.
6 min read
The 1924 bungalow on Blanco where Miss Etta kept a red porch chair, a cooler of Shiner, and an open invitation for anyone carrying an instrument is now a bare lot with a $1.2M listing that brags about 'preserving neighborhood character' while the render shows a three-story glass box and a two-car Tesla charger.
6 min read
Walked the stretch between Chicon and Comal where the last operating tortilleria still fires up the comal at 5 a.m.; the developer who bought the building next door has already slapped up renderings for 'Cielo Lofts' starting at $2,675 while the tortilleria's new triple-net lease arrives next week with language about 'curated experiential retail.'
6 min read