A 'Slacker' No More, Austin Emerges as High-Tech Hub
December 13 2018 - 2:50PM
Dow Jones News
By Russell Gold
When Richard Linklater shot his movie "Slacker" on the streets
of Austin in 1989, he captured a regional city where the young
people were laid back, marginally employed and proudly less driven
than those in other parts of the country. Fast-forward three
decades and the Texas city has been transformed -- from a small
hipster haven into a bustling and fast-paced high-tech hub.
That sometimes uneasy transformation culminated Thursday with
Apple Inc.'s decision to build a $1 billion campus in the city,
adding 5,000 workers initially, and as many as 15,000 jobs over
time. The announcement adds to Apple's existing Austin campus, the
company's largest outside of California, and comes on top of other
big new arrivals in the city, including offices from Alphabet
Inc.'s Google, Facebook Inc. and the U.S. Army's Futures Command
headquarters.
What has made Austin so attractive? It has a relatively low cost
of living compared with other tech hubs such as San Francisco, and
several local universities, including the University of Texas' main
campus, are churning out a steady stream of young programmers.
The city has focused on attracting tech companies. But it has
also worked to expand its music and film industry, anchored by
several large music festivals. The vibrant cultural scene in the
city, nicknamed the "Live Music Capital of the World," made it
easier to attract young talent, several people involved in economic
development said.
"It doesn't matter if you are writing songs or software, Austin
is an environment that is appealing to people who are creative,"
said Jon Hockenyos, president of TXP, an Austin economic analysis
and public policy firm that has a contract with the city.
Another factor for tech companies has been the large number of
universities and computer programmers in the area. "It's all about
the talent," said Matt Curtis, founder of Smart City Policy Group,
an Austin firm that consultants with cities on technology. "It's a
region that grows talent with five universities but it's also an
area that attracts great talent."
Michele Grieshaber, chief marketing officer of Silicon
Laboratories Inc., a semiconductor chip and software company based
in downtown Austin, agrees that there are many engineers who want
to live in Austin. Another draw, she said, was the quality of life.
"We complain about traffic in Austin, but it is infinitely harder
to commute in the Valley," she said.
The Austin Chamber of Commerce boasts that per-capita state and
local taxes are less than the national average, and one-third less
than in California. Texas has no state income tax. It's a lot more
affordable for a young engineer to purchase a house in Austin --
for now. The median home price index for the Austin metro area is
$302,100, according to Zillow, a real-estate tracking firm. The
comparable price for the San Jose metro area is $1.29 million.
"It is still cheaper than California, although that gap is
closing," says Eric Peterson, chief executive of Descendent
Studios, a videogame developer in Austin.
Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 13, 2018 14:35 ET (19:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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