Andy Sarwal - Austin Mixed Use Developer

AustinAmericanStatesman
January 2, 2010

Andy Sarwal

A virtual unknown in the local real estate community, Sarwal is overseeing one of the few large mixed-use projects still going forward in the region: University Park, a $750 million complex that is transforming the former Concordia University campus north of downtown into apartments, townhomes, a hotel, a movie theater, offices and retail space.

Last year, Sarwal and his mystery investors raised $39 million to finance the first office building, now home to Texas Monthly magazine and an Aveda Institute salon training school.

Financing for major real estate developments remains unusually difficult to obtain, but Sarwal said recently that funding is in place for the hotel, a Hyatt concept called Andaz, and a planned 450,000-square-foot building that will include a Premiere Cinema Corp. theater and about 340 apartments.

'I just know I'll drive longer distances and to all the ends of the Earth to accomplish something,' Sarwal said. 'I will get a deal done.'

MORE on "Whom to Watch in Business in Austin This Year"

Irving exemplifies the troubles faced by inner-ring suburbs

Dallas Morning News
Brandon Formby // December 27, 2009

In many ways, Irving is the poster child for the issues typical to inner-ring suburbs over the past decade. Its growing pains come not from population booms, but from shifting demographics and attempts at reinvention.

Irving has served as the backdrop for the national debate on illegal immigration. And it has decided the balance of political power in the Texas House. The Dallas Cowboys are gone, a convention center's going up and a light-rail line is being laid.

"In the last decade, we've actually become a world-class city," said longtime City Council member Lewis Patrick.

Representation

Hispanics remain the largest racial or ethnic group in the city. Their ranks between 2000 and 2008 grew at five times the rate of the city's overall population. Still, Hispanics often criticize the all-white City Council for not representing their needs or dealing with claims that police racially profile residents.

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