Westlake Picayune

By Will Pafford, Staff Writer

Although condominiums are common in Austin, most don’t have one of the city’s most treasured assets in the backyard. 

This is what sets Zilker Park Residences apart. 

Zilker Park Residences, which will be built at the corner of Barton Springs Road and Sterzing Street, is the latest project led by former Westbank resident John Wooley and his brother, Jeff Wooley. 

The 40-unit project includes three five-story condos, with each unit averaging 2,200 square feet. 

A high-end, 65-room boutique hotel with a restaurant and spa will sit in front of the condos on Barton Springs Road.    

The condos will be only feet from the hike-and-bike trail that runs along Barton Springs. 

“It has a really intimate relationship with Zilker Park,” John Wooley said. “It really makes it a unique piece of property.” 

Wooley said one of the condos’ target audiences are couples whose children have recently grown and left home.

These people are used to having a yard and pets, and might move into a condo to be closer to downtown and Zilker Park. 

“This is like a home replacement,” Wooley said. 

Although the neighbors around the property have fought developers in the past who were requesting variances, Wooley said the Zilker Park Neighborhood Association supports his project because the condos meet the base zoning requirements and don’t need variances. 

“We were not trying to change the rules,” he said. 

Wooley said he also wanted a project that would fit into Zilker Park’s environment and character. 

In addition to building the condos and hotel, Wooley said they have an agreement with the Austin Parks and Recreation Department to maintain more than two acres of neglected neighboring parkland, which has constantly clogged sewers and is covered in poison oak. 

“It’s a major clean up,” he said. 

Wooley said he would like to build a trail to connect the sidewalk on Barton Springs Road to the jogging trail along Barton Springs. 

The plans for the hotel also boosted neighborhood support.

“The neighborhood liked that a lot,” Wooley said. 

Susan Engleking, marketing consultant for Zilker Park Residences, said residents in the condos, as well as other neighbors, will be able to use the restaurant and spa, and it will be a place to meet others. 

“It’s an amenity for the neighborhood,” she said. “It complements the park.” 

Wooley and his brother are working with several partners in order to start construction by March 2009. 

One of these partners is Fine Line Development, the real estate development arm of Ed Bass of Forth Worth, Texas. 

Together they hope to have the first resident in the condos by March 2010. 

One of the first residents will be Wooley and his family.

“My daughter can grow up with Zilker Park as her yard,” he said.