Modern housing is on the rise in Austin, making it easier for the modernist to move into a brand new home, instead of waiting for a mid century A.D. Stenger to come on the market. Six miles east on Martin Luther King Blvd, the Agave residential development is finishing up its first round of homes. Touted as "Austin’s premier contemporary residential development," all of Agave’s 160 homes will be built with a modern flair.

Agave is actually the third phase of Sendero Hills, with the first two set up for low to middle income homeowners, with Agave geared towards the middle class. In so doing, Agave has qualified for the city’s S.M.A.R.T. (Safe, Mixed-income, Accessible, Reasonably-priced, Transit-oriented) housing policy, which includes meeting the city’s Green Building standards, and energy efficiency for their customers, with amenities such as low E windows and tankless hot water heaters.

Possibly the biggest draw for homeowners to the Agave Development is the chance to own a home designed and built by some of the city’s top Architects, without having to pay top dollar for the exact same house in the heart of the city. The list of architects includes Emily Little who has recently won the Austin Chronicle’s Readers’ Poll for "Best Architect", and has been designing and preserving some of Austin’s best structures for the last twenty years. Also, KRDB has a set of homes going up after quickly becoming one of the hottest design/build firms in the city, with their Cedar Avenue houses gracing the cover of Dwell Magazine. The Casa Bella Architects have been in business since 1989, and also have their hat in the ring, after many environmentally friendly, and beautifully modern buildings, such as the award-winning Ullrich WaterTreatment Plant, and Austin’s soon-to-come recycling center.

Though the concrete and cedar siding homes, with their bamboo floors, European designed kitchens, and CAT-5 telephone wiring are large draws for some new homeowners, Agave is not without its downsides. Though relatively close to downtown, there aren’t many amenities along MLK, such as a grocery store. And though East Austin is in a state of transition, low-income housing still makes up most of the region, and to some spending $300,000 on a home in the area may be a gamble. For those families with young children, the public schools would also be a concern, with the elementary schools not ranking as high as other parts of the city. And though each home will be professionally landscaped by Floribunda, the development is void of large, mature trees.

Vincia Development, who created Agave, is about to begin a new project called Fiore just down the road from Agave. Fiore should be a fine compliment to Agave, as it will be the nation’s first 5 star-rated green community. For those Austinites looking for cutting edge architecture, and an environmentally sound community, head East.