Developers plan to build 425 condominiums in two towers rising up to 500 feet northwest of the former Green Water Treatment Plant.

The lead developer, Austin-based Constructive Ventures Inc., would build the $220 million project on a 1.7–acre site that is currently home to the Austin Energy Control Center.

The City Council is set to vote today to authorize the city manager to sign a development agreement with a partnership of Constructive Ventures and Trammell Crow Co. to buy the tract for $14.5 million.

The community benefits from the project would include contributions for public art and $2.7 million for the city's affordable housing fund, the largest proposed payment from a developer for a project to date, said Rodney Gonzales, deputy director of the city's Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office.

This is a really good chance for the city to convert an underutilized piece of downtown property into one that generates property and sales taxes for the city and brings forth a substantial contribution for the affordable housing trust fund, Gonzales said.

In 2008, the city chose a partnership of Trammell Crow, Constructive Ventures and USAA Real Estate Co. over four other teams to redevelop the Austin Energy site and the nearby 6–acre water treatment plant at West Cesar Chavez and San Antonio streets with a hotel, apartments, office and retail space.

Those projects are part of the city's grand plan to transform downtown's southwestern edge, including the former Seaholm Power Plant, into a lively, densely developed district. A new central library is also planned along Cesar Chavez.

The city is still negotiating a development agreement and purchase price on the Green site, Gonzales said.

The agreement says the soonest that Constructive Ventures could purchase the Austin Energy property is March 2013. The city must first relocate the control center, from which the entire Austin Energy electric grid is managed year–round.

Larry Warshaw, a principal with Constructive Ventures, said the condominium buildings would be so-called point towers — slender buildings on a wider base like the Spring condominium high-rise, of which he was a co-developer — and would soar between 400 and 500 feet.

Financing will be the most likely factor dictating a start date, he said.

The demand for downtown housing remains strong today, Warshaw said. By 2013, the demand will be even stronger. The unknown factor is whether banks will be ready to lend money for this type of development again by 2013.

Gonzales said the market is still working itself out after the recession. However, he added, We would fully hope that the capital markets would thaw by then and demand would be back and the project would be under way.

Warshaw said the project would generate about $4.8 million a year in tax revenue for the city, county and other local taxing jurisdictions.

In addition to condos, the project planned for the Austin Energy site includes 15,000 square feet of retail, all of which would be leased or sold to local businesses, according to the development agreement.

Tim McCabe, senior vice president with Trammell Crow, said the company plans to build a $750 million project at the former Green plant, which is being demolished.

McCabe said the plans for that project remain as outlined in the bid proposal, which envisioned 1.9 million square feet of development. He said the soonest that construction could start would be 2012.