Finding an Affordable Commercial Space, a Business Partner & Community in Austin, TX
By Kristina Modares
If you’ve lived in East Austin for a while, you may remember passing the yellow abandoned building pictured below. You’ve probably slowly driven through the gigantic potholes in the front of this building to bypass the traffic light at the corner of Oak Springs and Airport boulevard. In the past, this building has been the home to a flea market, a BBQ restaurant, and NA. But for the past few years, it had been sitting vacant, becoming an illegal dumping site and a way for people to avoid a traffic light. If you drove by it now, you may not recognize it; neighbors can now be seen hanging out here, enjoying food and mingling. It’s no longer abandoned.
When I started my search to find an office space in Austin, I was a bit overwhelmed at the costs associated with it. My home is 880 square feet, and I wanted to explore my options so that I could separate my work life and my home life. The prices for buying or renting commercial property in Austin were high, and it didn’t make financial sense for me to spend that much on something that I’d only be using a few hours a day. I was beginning to give up on finding an affordable commercial space. Right before I lost hope, I stumbled upon a yellow building for sale that was walking distance from my house. The price was very affordable for the area. I’m a realtor, and honestly, you couldn’t even find a home in that zip code for $240,000. So, I started looking into it and asking questions. One of the first set of questions I asked was to my friend and now business partner, Steph Douglass. What do you think about the property? Should we try to buy this? Should we start a new partnership together? If you know Steph, you know what her answers were, “Yes, yes and yes.” and of course she had been eyeing this property as well.
So, we formed a partnership and started making plans and trying to figure out how to get this property under contract. If you’ve ever tried to buy a commercial property, you know that it can be hard to get financing for a small deal like this. When we finally found a bank who would loan us money, it was under the stipulation that we’d put down 30%. $72,000 that is a lot of money, especially to two ladies who had just spent most of their cash renovating their own homes. We also knew that this property would need a lot of renovating to get it up and running. Luckily, my dad saw our vision, and all three of us threw in $24K to get the deal done. First big hurdle down.
Once we were under contract, we realized that the previous owners had left permits open and we would need to close them out. The city of Austin permitting department has proven to be pretty slow-moving, inconsistent, and poor communicators when it comes to getting projects completed efficiently. Steph and I were a little concerned about working with the city. We wanted to start renovating immediately, and we knew nothing could start until we closed out the permits. We closed on the property in December of 2018 and were able to close out permits and start renovating our property in March 2019. June 1st was our launch party; we made a lot happen in those three months, and a lot of things happened to us in those three months. We created a business plan, formed a partnership, came up with a name (Open House Austin), merged with another brokerage, recreated new systems, hired an employee, found food truck tenants to rent from us and pay our mortgage, that same employee quit, designed & renovated our space and planned our launch party. It was a crazy few months, but we made it happen, and we were very lucky that most everything went according to plan as far as renovations go. You can read more about our renovations, here if you’d like!
After the dust had settled, we had a beautiful and functional space, a new business and job we had created for ourselves. In December, as Steph and I created our business plan around real estate education and teaching classes to first time buyers, sellers, and investors, we thought why stop there? Why not have a space that brings neighbors together and gives the community a place they can come to and learn, hang, and live. That’s how we came up with the name “Open House Austin.” We wanted people to feel welcomed, and we wanted to be inclusive and supportive. So, we made our space a community event center. Our space is free to groups who try to do good for the world and our community. We also offer competitive prices for people who are interested in hosting a for-profit event. Steph and I will also host monthly workshops to educate people about the process of buying a house in Austin. We realized we couldn’t run our real estate business and an event center, so we hired our event manager, Celeste. She is truly a gem and a trustworthy and dedicated human. Steph and I have the time we need to focus on our real estate careers for now, and Celeste will manage the event side of our company.
Who is Renting Our Space?
The lot at Open House Austin is 7,487 square feet and is now the home to Trill Taqueria and LeverCraft Coffee. There are small business owners who quit their full-time jobs to pursue their passions and let me tell you they are each extremely passionate about what they do.
Nick, owner of Trill Taqueria, makes some of my favorite tacos I’ve ever eaten. He grinds fresh masa for his corn tortillas and gets all of his ingredients locally. Nick left his job as a chef at Eden East to open his own space. He opened his truck this past year, and through the ups and downs of owning your own business and trying to care for a new baby, him and his partner, Collete, are making it happen. He’s very quickly gaining traction, and the people of Austin are noticing his work.
Eric, owner of LeverCraft coffee, (and my partner) is a real go-getter. He built-out his entire 43ft shop on his own in the past three months in the Texas heat. Eric completely gutted the trailer and rebuilt the inside. He also roasts his own coffee and created the menu and design of his unique shop. He is offering a sliding scale menu so that everyone can afford to enjoy his coffee. His passion for coffee is very apparent, ask him about it, and you will quickly see what I’m talking about!
In my mind, we are all part of an ecosystem at Open House Austin. We all do well when we all prosper. We want people to come to our space and get to know what our business is. The taco stand and coffee shop bring each other business and will have more customers from our events and exposure. Austin Skincare will bring her clients over and gain new clients as well! There will be a space for the neighborhood to grab food, nourishment, education, and entertainment. Most importantly, we are very aware of the location that we are in. People don’t necessarily want a coffee shop; they want a supportive community space. LeverCraft will be offering low-cost drinks to those that may not be able to afford the standard prices of coffee in Austin. Open House Austin will have competitive prices or be free to rent. If you have any other suggestions on ways we can be more inclusive, Steph and I are very open to hearing it.
If you have any more questions or would like to learn more about any of these businesses, please feel free to reach out! I hope our paths cross soon. Here’s the best way to see what we all are doing:
Open House Austin: Kristina Modares & Steph Douglass
LeverCraft Coffee: Eric Mann
Trill Taqueria: Nick Belloni
Kristina is the co-founder of Open House Austin, a real estate education company. Contact our team for any real estate related questions or to start the home buying or selling process. Don’t live in Austin? We can also connect you with a great Realtor in your area.
