Pops' Guide* to
Cambridge Tower

Who to call for what

Deliveries & packages

Most packages are delivered to and kept at the garage attendants' office. Pick them up there.

The front desk logs your packages into BuildingLink and it emails or pushes you a notification. Turn those on the same day you set up your BuildingLink account, or you'll wonder where things went.

How it works here

Best: tell the front desk it's coming. Call the desk at (512) 478-7218 when you place a DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Instacart, H-E-B or other order. The concierge will then send the driver up to your unit with it.

If you don't tell the desk, the concierge calls you when the driver arrives. If they can't reach you, they won't send the driver up. The desk may refuse the order, or, at its option, hold it at the front desk until you pick it up.

• Answer your phone around delivery time, or the order may be turned away. Even if the desk holds it, hot food gets cold and frozen groceries thaw.
• Put your unit number and phone number in the app so the desk and the driver can reach you.
• Packages are different. Most packages go to the garage attendants' office; see Packages.

Delivery note for the app

Paste this into the delivery instructions so the driver knows where to go:

Drivers making deliveries may use the guest spaces on garage level 1P (garage entrance on W. 18th St). Questions? Call the front desk, 24/7, at (512) 478-7218.

Front desk instructions, done right

This is how you tell the desk who's allowed up and what to expect. The concierge works off this list, so it should match your life right now.

Two ways to do it. You can call the concierge at (512) 478-7218 and have them set it up. Or, more efficiently, do it yourself in BuildingLink: add, change, or delete your instructions any time, so they say exactly what you want.

In BuildingLink you type the instruction in your own words and pick a type:

• Broker Access, for a real estate agent showing your unit
• Housekeeper/Dogwalker/Etc., for regular help
• Permission to Enter, Temporary, for a contractor or house-sitter for a set stretch
• Permission to Enter, Permanent, for family or anyone with standing access
• Do Not Allow, for someone the desk should not let up

You can add a photo of the person so the desk knows who to expect, and set the start date and when it ends.

• Set an end date on anything temporary. Left open, an instruction stays on file long after the job is done or the house-sitter is gone.
• Spell names exactly the way they appear on the person's ID. The desk checks.
• Review yours often, and at least once a year. Open the list and clear out anything stale.

What to put in the request

• Unit number and the best way to reach you
• Photos. A picture saves a trip and gets the right person up there the first time
• Permission to enter. Can staff come in if you're not home?
• Whether it's spreading to neighboring units or common areas. Water especially

Urgent right now?

Water coming in, no power, somebody stuck in an elevator, anything on the fire panel? Call the front desk at (512) 478-7218 first, then file the request. Don't wait on the form.

On-site General Manager

This goes through BuildingLink, so your message gets logged with the building instead of sitting in somebody's personal inbox. That matters if you ever need to show you asked. You'll need to sign in. If it's urgent, skip both and call the front desk at (512) 478-7218.

The on-site team

Who handles what in the building, so your question lands with the right person the first time.

Checked weekly against the BuildingLink staff photo directory. Both managers work on site and are reached through the building office, (512) 478-7218; neither lists a direct line. Staff changes; the directory shows the current roster and who's on duty.

Staff & resident directories

These have your neighbors' contact information in them. Keep it in the building.

Worth Ross corporate

Day to day

Documents

Board minutes are posted there for owners. Can't see them? See Minutes.

1. Set up your logins: BuildingLink, Vantaca, Alliance, and the Monster Pay laundry app. How
2. Get your Brivo Mobile Pass for the elevators. How
3. Book the service elevator for your move, if needed. Reserve the service elevator
4. Learn the trash and recycling system. Trash & recycling
5. Complete your occupancy orientation within two weeks. Everyone living in the unit, owners and tenants alike. Ask the front desk at (512) 478-7218. Community Rules §4.2
6. Follow the fire rules. Every unit must have working smoke detectors in every bedroom and the adjoining hallway (checking them is the occupant's job) and a working fire extinguisher. No open flame, including candles. See Fire safety rules and What to Do If You Discover a Fire. Community Rules §§3.1, 3.3, 3.4
7. Turn on BuildingLink package notifications and file front desk instructions for anyone allowed into your unit.
8. Owners: send the association your insurance certificate. At least $300,000 liability, association as certificate holder. Owner must-dos Community Rules §2.4 (Doc 2022025778)
9. Bringing a cat or bird? Get the Board's written approval first. House Rules
10. Planning any work on the unit? Read Renovations & Contractors before you hire anyone.
11. Set up Spectrum internet and TV, included through the building's bulk contract. See Internet & TV.
12. Read the House Rules and sign up for emergency alerts.

Getting in: the Brivo Mobile Pass

Brivo is the building's electronic access system. Its free Mobile Pass app turns your phone into a key: hold it near the reader instead of using a card or fob. Brivo runs the service elevator and, since fall 2026, the passenger elevator landings on the Lobby, P1, and P2 levels. The old CAM key no longer works at those readers.

• Start at the front desk, (512) 478-7218. Check in with the concierge or email Tom Schurr, and tell them where to send the pass.
• You'll get an email from brivomobilepass@brivo.com saying "Your Brivo Mobile Pass is ready!" Open that on your phone, not your computer. This trips up most people.
• Install the Brivo app from the link in the email, then go back to the email and tap the activation link. There's also a code at the bottom if you need it.
• Make the Brivo account. It says optional, but it ties your credential to your email instead of just that one handset, and that's what saves you when you get a new phone.

Keys, mailbox keys & fobs

• Unit front door keys: any unit front door key must be keyed to the building's master key system, with a unit key registered in the front desk's computerized Key Link drawer. The master key system is a requirement of the Fire Marshal. For locksmith work, use Cothron's Security Professionals, which does the building's locksmithing: (512) 472-6273.
• Elevator key fobs: through the front desk concierge.
• Mailbox keys: through the concierge, who arranges the replacement with Maintenance and the letter carrier.
• Your phone as a key: the Brivo Mobile Pass opens the elevator readers. See Brivo pass.
• The old CAM key: since fall 2026 it no longer opens the passenger-elevator readers at the Lobby, P1, and P2 (Brivo replaced it there) or the Fitness Center (it now uses a combination lock). Ask the front desk whether you still need it anywhere else.
• Roof garden key: borrowed from the front desk and returned when you leave.

Locked out of your unit? Show ID at the front desk for assistance.

Your logins

• Trash chute on every floor for bagged garbage.
• Recycling bins are down in the garage. You carry your own down.
• Big bags, boxes, and anything that could catch fire go down to the garage level for staff to handle.
• Don't leave trash or recycling sitting on the service elevator.

Community Rules §6.3. What the City takes in recycling: Austin Resource Recovery ↗

Some neighbors put together composting and recycling resources: a short video on why it matters, guides on what you can compost, Austin recycling references, and a food-scraps infographic.

Expected next service: the last Wednesday of the month.

ABC Pest Control usually comes the last Wednesday of the month, unless that day is a holiday. Management confirms each date through BuildingLink, by email and on your BuildingLink home page, usually on the Monday before.

Want your unit treated? Call or stop by the front desk before the service day and ask to be put on the list. You don't have to be home.

Move-in / move-out

• Service elevator only for moving in or out. Book it in BuildingLink: open the amenity picker, choose Service Elevator, and pick your window. It books 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. Give it back as soon as you're done, and leave it clean and empty. Same goes for a big furniture delivery.
• Daytime only. Nothing sits in the halls or elevators overnight, and you clean up at the end of each day.
• You pay for damage. Anything your movers tear up in the common areas gets billed to the owner. If it's a tenant's move, the owner pays the association and collects from the tenant.
• Do your occupancy orientation within two weeks of moving in. Owners, tenants, and anybody living in the unit. Front desk at (512) 478-7218 can point you to it.
• No move deposit in the recorded rules. Ask the front desk whether the elevator pads need to go up before your booking window starts.

Community Rules §§5.5, 11.1, 13.1, 4.2.

STEPS TO TAKE WHEN A FIRE IS DISCOVERED

Rescue

If possible, remove everyone from the immediate danger area. This means the room where the fire is located in the immediate vicinity of the fire.

Confine

Close all doors leading to the room where the fire is located if this can be done without endangerment. This will act to contain the fire and the smoke to that one room for a longer period of time.

Alert

Call 911 or the building staff at (512) 478-7218 and give the following information:

1. Your name
2. Nature of the emergency: Fire or Medical
3. Floor number
4. Unit number
5. Telephone number you are calling from

If you have not already done so and the building is not in alarm (which should automatically notify emergency responders), the front desk Concierge on duty will call the Austin Fire Department at 911 to give them the following information:

1. Nature of the emergency: Fire of Medical, etc
2. Resident’s Name
3. Complete street address and building name
4. Floor number and unit number
5. Closest street intersection
6. Call back number (Do not stay on the phone if you are in danger or evacuation has begun).

Fight

If the fire is small and confined to one object such as a trash can, get a fire extinguisher from the common corridor and use it on the fire.

1. Fire extinguishers are located on every floor in both stairwells. Additionally, every unit is required to have a fire extinguisher in or near the kitchen area at all times.
2. All extinguishers in public areas are the “ABC” type extinguishers. These are multi-purpose dry chemical extinguishers effective on all types of fires.
3. To operate the extinguisher:
   1. Hold it upright and pull the ring pin
   2. Stand back 8 feet and aim it at the base of the fire
   3. Squeeze the lever and sweep from side to side
   4. Remember P-A-S-S; Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep
4. Never attempt to fight a fire unless:
   1. You know how to operate the fire extinguisher
   2. You have the appropriate type of extinguisher
   3. The fire is small
   4. You have access to an exit in case you fail to put the fire out
5. Standpipe connections and fire hoses are to be used by Fire Department Personnel only.

Evacuation Procedures

When the fire alarm activates you should:

1. Go to the nearest stairwell and go down at least three floors and if possible, exit the building at street level.
2. An announcement will be made over the Public Address System when all I clear or when it is necessary to leave the building.
3. If the stairwell nearest your unit is blocked by fire or smoke, go to the other stairwell and follow the above procedures.
4. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THE ELEVATORS IN THE EVENT OF A FIRE!
5. Once you have exited the building, proceed to the official assembly area
6. If all stairwells are blocked by fire or smoke, return to your unit and:
   1. Close all doors
   2. Call the front desk and notify them of your location.
   3. Place towels, clothing, etc. around the door.
   4. Cover heating and A/C vents with towels or clothing.
   5. Place a wet towel or cloth over your mouth and nose. Stay low below the smoke.
   6. Do not break the windows unless it is a LAST RESORT! Falling glass is dangerous to persons below, and it may allow smoke to enter the room.
7. Please Note: Evacuation to the roof should NEVER be an option.

Official Assembly Areas

In this order:

1. Cambridge Courtyard, unless the fire is in that area
2. Pool Area, if safe
3. TFC Parking Lot #19, behind us
4. If a real fire/emergency, AFD will be in charge and direct residents where to go/assemble.

Assembly areas stated by management.

1. Stay calm. You have air, and help is on the way.
2. Press the alarm or emergency call button in the car, and use its phone or intercom if it has one.
3. Call the front desk at (512) 478-7218, 24/7. If you can't reach anyone and it's an emergency, call 911.
4. Don't try to get out on your own. Don't pry the doors open or climb out, even if the car is close to a floor. Wait for building staff or the fire department.
5. If someone else is stuck, call the front desk. Don't try to open the doors yourself.

Source: NYC Department of Buildings, Elevator Safety ↗; Maryland Department of Labor, Elevator Safety Tips ↗.

Walgreens, 6200 W. William Cannon Dr.

The only pharmacy in Austin with a pharmacist on duty around the clock. The store and the pharmacy are both open 24 hours; the pharmacy closes for a meal break from 1:30 to 2:00 a.m.

Hours can change, especially on holidays. Call before a late-night trip, or check the store page.

Closest: Pet Specialists of Austin, 3901 Guadalupe St.

A 24/7 emergency and critical care hospital for dogs and cats, about 2 miles north of the building, near 39th and Guadalupe. No appointment needed for emergencies.

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center

If your pet may have eaten or touched something toxic (medication, chocolate, xylitol, antifreeze, a houseplant, a cleaning product), call right away. Experts answer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Call the emergency vet on your way in so they can get ready for you. Emergency vets triage, so the sickest animals are seen first.

Who comes when you call 911

• Police: Austin Police Department (APD). For a crime that's over and nobody is in danger, call (512) 974-2000 or 311, or file a report online ↗.
• Fire: Austin Fire Department (AFD). Our closest station is Station 2, 506 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., about two blocks away. AFD also answers many medical calls.
• Ambulance: Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS). The City and County's own EMS service handles 911 medical calls and ambulance transport. You don't choose a private company.

Get the alerts before you need them

• Warn Central Texas. Free emergency, weather, and community alerts by text, call, or email for the 10-county region. The official sign-up for Travis County.
• Accessible Hazard Alert System (AHAS). Alerts in ASL and English voice and text for Deaf, Blind, and Hard of Hearing residents. Text AHAS to (737) 241-3710.
• ATXfloods. Live low-water crossing closures, worth a look before you drive in a storm.

Cambridge Tower is a concrete-and-steel building. In a tornado or violent storm, flying glass is a major danger, so the goal is to put walls between you and every window.

Tornado warning: get away from windows and glass doors, including the balcony door, and go to the most interior space you can reach quickly:

• Best: an interior bathroom, closet, or hallway inside your unit with no windows.
• Also good: the middle of the building's long corridor, away from the windows.

The National Weather Service favors the lowest floor you can reach safely, so if there is time before the storm arrives, go down by the stairs, then shelter in the middle of that floor's corridor. Don't use the elevators. Once you're there, crouch low and cover your head and neck.

Severe thunderstorm or high winds: stay inside, away from windows, and bring in anything loose on your balcony before the storm hits.

Based on National Weather Service tornado safety guidance for high-rise buildings: "Go to interior small rooms or halls. Stay away from exterior walls or areas containing glass" (NWS, Tornado Safety ↗). If building staff or emergency crews give different instructions, follow them.

Why it matters

Pigeon droppings can carry three diseases: histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and psittacosis. You catch them by breathing in the dust stirred up when dried droppings are swept or scraped, not by touching them. The risk is rare for healthy people. It's highest for anyone with a weakened immune system.

If your immune system is weakened (for example, from cancer treatment, an organ transplant, HIV, or immune-suppressing medicine), don't clean droppings yourself. Have someone else do it or hire a professional.

How to clean it up safely

1. Wear disposable gloves and clothes you can wash right after. For a heavy buildup, add a respirator such as an N95 mask, plus shoe covers or boots you can rinse.
2. Wet the droppings first with a spray bottle or watering can and let them soak. Never dry-sweep, scrape, or blow dry droppings; that's what puts the dust in the air.
3. Scoop up the wet material with paper towels or a dustpan and put it in a heavy plastic bag. Tie it shut and put it in the regular trash.
4. Wash the area with soapy water. Go easy on the hose so you don't spray the balconies below.
5. Bag the gloves, wash your work clothes, and wash your hands and any exposed skin.

A routine cleaning, like a windowsill or a light layer on the balcony floor, isn't a serious health risk for most people. Clean regularly so it doesn't build up.

Keep them from coming back

• Don't feed them, and don't leave pet food, birdseed, or standing water on the balcony.
• Clear nesting spots. Pigeons like sheltered corners behind furniture, planters, and storage boxes.
• Ask management before you install anything that extends above the rail. The rules keep the exterior uniform, and nothing on a balcony can extend above the rail.

The fire (January 2011)

A live Christmas tree was dragged over votive candles, and the fire spread from a unit into the 8th-floor hallway. Board minutes later refer to the loan documents for the "2012 building fire repairs."

Building management, October 2026; Board minutes, early 2018.

Why no sprinklers throughout

In 2017 the Austin Fire Department considered adopting a fire-code appendix (Appendix M of the 2015 International Fire Code) that would have required existing high-rises 75 feet or taller to add sprinklers. Five Austin high-rises had none, Cambridge among them. Space, low ceilings, moving residents out, and cost made a full retrofit impractical, so each building instead proposed its own life-safety upgrades. AFD agreed with each plan at the end of 2018.

In a July 10, 2019 letter, Fire Chief Joel Baker confirmed AFD supports those upgrades as the alternative to sprinklers, noting the buildings' non-combustible construction, and that the agreement didn't need to go back to City Council.

AFD letter to Cambridge Tower, July 10, 2019; Board minutes and GM reports, 2018–2019.

What the building did instead

• A new fire alarm system in the common areas: Johnson Controls contract signed December 2019, $254,299. It replaced the fire alarm panel and added smoke detectors in elevator lobbies, elevator machine rooms and every common corridor, speaker-strobes, pull stations at every floor exit, and duct smoke detectors that shut down the air handlers. It covers common areas only, not the garage or units, and isn't a full code upgrade.
• Stairwell pressurization testing and replacement of stair doors that couldn't pass it.
• Fire Department access: after the fire, unit front-door keys were put on the building's master key system so firefighters can get into a unit in an emergency. Your unit's front-door key must stay keyed to that system.
• Done by December 2021, after the Fire Department's sequence test, with every item the Fire Marshal noted cleared.

Johnson Controls quotation, December 2019; building management, October 2026; Board minutes and GM reports, 2019–2022.

What it means today

• Plan as though your unit has no sprinklers. Inspection records mention them only in limited areas, such as the 8th floor and the dumpster dock.
• The fire system is tested every year in the Fire Department's annual sequence test.
• That's why the fire rules are strict: working smoke detectors, a working extinguisher in every unit, and no open flame ($500 fine each). See Fire safety rules.
• If there's a fire: What to Do If You Discover a Fire.

Every amenity, with hours

Rules for every shared space

• Posted rules govern. The recorded documents don't set hours; the hours above come from BuildingLink's booking settings and the Colorado Room policy. Otherwise, follow the rules posted at each facility.
• Guests must be with the owner or tenant and follow the same rules. Owners are liable for their guests.
• An owner's employees may use the facilities only while assisting or instructing the owner or resident.
• Only three things are booked in BuildingLink: the Colorado Room, the Pool Area, and the Service Elevator. Everything else is first come, first served. Reserve in BuildingLink BuildingLink ↗

Community Rules §8.1 (Community Manual, Attachment 3). Pool and roof rules are on Pool & Spa and Roof garden.

Pool & spa hours

• Booking is optional. Reserve the Pool Area in BuildingLink for up to 6 hours, at least 5 days ahead and up to six months out. A booking tells neighbors to expect guests; it doesn't close the pool.
• No animals in the swimming pool. Community Rules §8.1

Getting up there

1. Ask the front desk for the Rooftop Garden key. Open 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily.
2. Take the center stairs next to the passenger elevator landing on the 15th floor.
3. Turn the roof alarm off with the key.
4. Stay off the parapet. Standing or sitting on the roof parapet is strictly prohibited and dangerous.
5. Make sure you turn the alarm back on when you leave, and return the key to the front desk.

WRMC's "How to Access the Rooftop Garden" sheet; hours confirmed by the General Manager. Questions: front desk, (512) 478-7218.

Hosting a gathering up there

The roof garden is shared and can't be closed off. A gathering there runs on the Common Area Facilities Usage Agreement, with five days' notice to the General Manager. See Book a pool event for the rules, costs, and form.

Before you plan anything

• Get approval first. Management signs off before you use the space, and they check the date and time for conflicts.
• You can't close it off. Your gathering doesn't lock other residents out of the space.
• 30 people maximum, unless Management approves a larger number.
• A resident has to be there the whole time, and that resident is on the hook for how guests behave and anything that gets broken.
• Community rules apply to everyone attending, including no smoking on the premises.

Costs: pool, roof garden & patio

The space is free. You only get charged if staff sets up or tears down for you, or if it needs cleaning after.

Easiest way to pay nothing: set up and tear down yourself, and put the furniture back where you found it.

While it's going on

• Sound stops at 10:00 p.m. Live band or a speaker, either way it can't carry into people's units.
• Outside caterers are fine as long as they follow these rules and are Certified Food Handlers in Austin and Travis County.
• The Manager on Duty can shut a party down mid-stream if it's breaking the Community Rules.
• Leave it the way you found it. Cleaned up, furniture back in place.

What you're signing up for

When you sign, you indemnify and hold harmless the Association and management against any liability, loss, claim, or action, including attorney's fees and costs, coming out of damage or injury connected to your use of the space. The Association takes no responsibility for private parties.

Read paragraph 9 all the way through before you sign it. If you're serving alcohol, bringing in vendors, or running amplified sound, check that your renters or homeowners policy covers host liability. Worth a call to your agent.

The form

The Usage Agreement is a signature form. You sign it, and a management representative countersigns it before the space can be used.

1. Download or print the agreement. Common Area Facilities Usage Agreement (PDF)DownloadPrint
2. Fill it in and sign it: the space, day and date, start and end time, number of attendees, your unit and name, your signature, and the date.
3. Email the signed agreement as an attachment to the General Manager, Tom Schurr, at least five days ahead, or hand it to the concierge at the front desk.
4. Wait for approval and management's countersignature before you invite anyone.

No printer or scanner? Fill and sign it on your phone (on iPhone, open the PDF, tap Share, then Markup), or print it and snap a clear photo. No mail app set up? Copy the address and send it from Gmail, Outlook, or whatever you use. The front desk can also take a paper copy: (512) 478-7218.

Booking

• Book it at least 2 business days out and get Management's approval. (BuildingLink says 24 hours; the policy's two business days is the safer number.)
• One event per resident per day. Management can limit how often you book so everybody gets a turn.
• Available 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. under the policy, though BuildingLink only takes requests from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Your clock starts at setup and stops when cleanup is done, so ask for enough time on both ends.
• No rental fee. The room itself costs you nothing.

How to reserve the Colorado Room

The Event Policies end in a signature form. Management needs the signed form, not just an email.

1. Download or print the Event Policies. Colorado Room Event Policies (PDF)DownloadPrint
2. Fill in and sign the form at the bottom: unit number, your name, event date, start time (from setup), end time (cleanup complete), today's date, and your signature.
3. Email the signed form as an attachment to the General Manager, Tom Schurr, at least two business days before your event. In the email, add your expected attendance, whether you need staff setup, your caterer if any, and your phone.
4. Wait for Management's approval before you plan around the date. You can also place the booking in BuildingLink.

No printer or scanner? Fill and sign it on your phone (on iPhone, open the PDF, tap Share, then Markup), or print it and snap a clear photo. No mail app set up? Copy the address and send it from Gmail, Outlook, or whatever you use. The front desk can also take a paper copy: (512) 478-7218.

How many people, and the ground rules

• 30 people is the general cap. Planning something bigger? Talk to Management first.
• A resident has to be there, and that person answers for guest behavior and any damage.
• No live bands unless it's an HOA or Management event. Recorded music, movies, anything with sound has to stay inside the room.
• No smoking in interior spaces or anywhere on the property.
• The Manager on Duty can end a party that's breaking these policies or the Community Rules.

Costs: Colorado Room

Free to use. You only pay if staff sets up or tears down, or if it needs cleaning after.

That carpet charge is the one that catches folks off guard. Serving red wine or putting out a buffet? Put something down on the floor.

What you're agreeing to

Same deal as the outdoor spaces. You indemnify and hold harmless the Association and Management against any liability, loss, claim, or action, including attorney's fees and costs, coming out of damage or injury tied to your use of the room. The Association takes no responsibility for private parties.

The patio outside

The Colorado Room patio keeps the room's hours, but it's a shared outdoor space: you can't close it off, and a gathering there runs on the Usage Agreement. See Pool & Spa.

How to reserve it

1. Open the BuildingLink amenity picker (button below) and sign in.
2. Choose Service Elevator and pick your date and time window. It books 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week.
3. Ask the front desk at (512) 478-7218 whether the elevator pads need to go up before your window starts.
4. Give it back as soon as you're done, clean and empty.

The rules that go with it

• Moves and big deliveries use the service elevator only, and contractors bring all tools, equipment, and materials up on it.
• Daytime only. Nothing sits in the halls or elevators overnight, and you clean up at the end of each day.
• The owner pays for damage to the common areas, including a tenant's move.
• Carts and bikes ride the service elevator too, and don't leave trash or recycling on it.

Community Rules §§5.5, 11.1, 13.1; Rules Regarding Repairs and/or Renovation (amended 1/25/2024). See Elevator rules, Moving in & out, and Remodeling & contractors.

The building's ice machine is in the parking garage, next to the garage attendants' office.

The herb garden

Where: in the patio area on the way to the pool, alongside the fence.

Suzanne planted and keeps up five pots of cooking herbs, and anybody in the building is welcome to snip from them: spicy globe basil; chocolate mint and culinary sage; rosemary and Texas tarragon; chives and cilantro; sweet basil, thyme, and flat-leaf parsley.

The Texas tarragon (also called Mexican mint marigold) stands in for French tarragon, which just won't grow down here. Take what you need and leave enough for the plant to come back.

Laundry rooms

Laundry: pay with your phone (Monster Pay)

The washers and dryers on the south end of each even-numbered floor run on the Monster Pay app.

1. Download Monster Pay from the App Store or Google Play.
2. Register and add funds with a Visa or Mastercard.
3. Start a machine by scanning the QR code on it, or by entering the machine number.

Refunds or app problems: refunds@aadvantagelaundry.com.

Your storage box (at your parking space)

• It's assigned with your parking space, for your exclusive use. Like the space, it's a limited common element: yours to use, not to own, and the Board assigns and can reassign it.
• Everything you store in the garage goes inside the box. Nothing on the floor of your space, under the box, or on top of it. The only things allowed in the space itself are your vehicle, motorcycle, scooter, bicycles, and mobility aids (walkers, wheelchairs).
• Items left outside the box get a notice to remove them within 10 days, then a $25-a-day fine, and removal 30 days after the notice.
• Nothing that would raise the building's insurance rate.

Revised Declaration §§1.1(bb), 1.3, 2.1(e) (Doc 2020203869); Community Rules §10.3 as amended by Doc 2022025778.

Shared storage rooms

• Where: near the service elevator on the odd-numbered floors, for residents of that floor and the floor below. No reservation.
• Only boxed items and luggage (sealed cartons, plastic bins, wooden crates), on the shelves with the labels showing. Label everything with your name and unit.
• Not allowed: anything on the floor, empty boxes, fitness or medical equipment, building or construction materials, furniture, or flooring, carpet, and rugs.
• It's shared space, so don't take up so much that your neighbors can't use it. The room's posted rules apply too.
• Moving out? Take everything with you. Items must go as soon as you no longer own or live here.
• Everything is stored at your own risk; the association, management, and staff aren't responsible for missing or damaged items.

Community Rules §9.1 as amended by Doc 2022025778. Violations: §9.1 says $25 a day, but the later 2023 fine schedule says $100 a day (Doc 2023044833).

Cambridge is a smoke-free building. Not in your unit, not on the balcony or patio, not in the offices, not anywhere in the common areas. Cigarettes, pipes, cigars, marijuana, e-cigarettes, and vaping all count.

One exception. If you were an owner of record as of January 1, 2015, you're grandfathered and can smoke on your own balcony or patio as long as you put the butts out properly. You can't hand that right to a tenant or anybody who comes after you. Violations are $500, doubling on a second offense (Community Rules §3.5; fine schedule effective 5/1/2023, Doc 2023044833).

In every unit

1. Working smoke detectors in every bedroom and the adjoining hallway, or as the Austin Fire Department requires. Checking them is the occupant's job. Community Rules §3.1
2. A working fire extinguisher. All-purpose household extinguishers can be bought from the association's maintenance department. There are also extinguishers on every floor inside each of the three fire-exit stairwells. Community Rules §3.4
3. No open flame, including lit candles, and no charcoal cookers or grills, inside a unit or on a balcony. Qualified caterers may use Sterno at Colorado Room and common-area events when electric isn't available. Community Rules §3.3
4. No flammable, explosive, or hazardous materials in a unit, on a balcony, or in common areas. That includes live cut Christmas trees and wreaths. Household and fabric cleaners in normal household-size containers are fine if properly stored. Community Rules §3.2
5. No smoking or vaping anywhere in the building, including inside units and on balconies. Owners of record on January 1, 2015 may smoke on their own balcony or patio and must put butts out properly; that right can't pass to tenants or later occupants. Community Rules §3.5
6. No activity that creates a hazard to people or property, in a unit or the common areas. Community Rules §6.2

Halls, exits & trash

• Keep exits clear. Don't block the entrance or exit to any unit, elevator, stairwell, or corridor, and don't leave grocery or luggage carts in the halls. Community Rules §5.3
• Entry alcoves may be decorated, but nothing may impede egress or be a fire hazard; door decorations must be temporary and not a fire hazard. No rugs or mats in the corridor. Community Rules §5.1
• Combustible materials and liquids that could be a fire hazard don't go down the chute; take them to the garage level for staff to dispose of. Community Rules §6.3

During any remodeling

• Everything stays non-combustible. The building is Type 1-A construction, so every wall, floor, and ceiling assembly, including non-bearing partitions inside units, must be non-combustible. Changing a fire-rated partition needs a City permit.
• Keep dust out of the corridor and keep front and balcony doors closed. Dust can set off the building fire alarm, and the Fire Department will then inspect the unit that triggered it.
• No high-odor materials such as oil-based paint, fiberglass, or epoxy coatings without exhaust venting approved by the Chief Building Engineer or GM.

Rules Regarding Repairs and/or Renovation in Condominium Units, amended 1/25/2024. See Remodeling & contractors.

Fines

$500 for smoking violations (including dropping butts off a balcony) and for fire-safety failures: a missing or disabled smoke detector, no working extinguisher, a live tree or wreath, or open flame or charcoal. Repeat violations double, then triple.

Fine schedule effective 5/1/2023 (Travis County Doc 2023044833). The rules above are Rule Group II, "Fire Prevention," and related rules in the recorded Community Manual (Doc 2020203870).

Cats and birds only, and only with the Board's written approval. No other animals, except a service animal or emotional support animal approved as a reasonable accommodation. Two animals per unit at most. No feral, wild, or undomesticated animals. Community Rules §4.5.2; Condominium Regulations §§8.1–8.2

1. Tenants need the owner's OK too. A tenant may keep a cat or bird only with the owner's concurrence and the Board's approval. Condominium Regulations §8.1
2. Service or emotional support animal? Apply in writing to the General Manager. Describe the animal (and, for a service animal, the tasks it performs); certify it has no history of dangerous or aggressive behavior, that its vaccinations including rabies are current, and that it's free of fleas and parasites; agree to the animal rules and to indemnify the association. Community Rules §4.5.3(a)–(e)
3. Emotional support animals also need a letter from a physician, psychiatrist, social worker, or other mental health professional: on letterhead, signed, dated, with license number and where it was issued, and renewed every year. Not needed if the disability or need is readily apparent or already known. Community Rules §4.5.3(f)
4. No pet deposit or fee, but you pay for any damage the animal causes. Community Rules §4.5.4
5. Keep vaccinations current and send proof to the General Manager every year. Keep the animal free of fleas and parasites. Community Rules §4.5.6
6. Outside your unit, leashed and under control. Clean up immediately and bag the waste for the trash. No noise, odor, or unsanitary conditions, and no uninvited contact with people or other animals. Community Rules §4.5.6
7. No animals in the pool. Community Rules §4.5.6; §8.1
8. When staff come in, someone stays in the unit and keeps the animal on a leash or in a cage the whole time. Community Rules §4.5.6
9. No breeding or commercial activity. If a cat or bird has offspring, you must apply to the Board to keep them. Community Rules §4.5.5
10. Violations are $100 a day, and the Board can revoke its approval after written notice and a chance for a hearing. If the animal isn't removed within seven days after revocation, the Board can have it removed. Community Rules §4.5.7; fine schedule effective 5/1/2023 (Doc 2023044833)

Courtesy requests, not rules: use the service elevator when it's available, keep lobby time short, and don't let your animal play with other animals outside your unit. Where these rules conflict with federal, state, or local law, including the Fair Housing Act and the ADA, the law controls. Community Rules §§4.5.7(b), 4.5.8

Guest parking

• Register guests at the front desk, (512) 478-7218, before they park.
• Ten guest spaces between the garage office and the elevators on 1P. Short-term and overnight guests, deliveries, service vehicles, and loading or unloading.
• Housekeepers and nurses get two hours. Past that it's a violation.
• Don't park there to leave a car while you travel, to go to class somewhere else, or instead of your assigned space. Leave your keys with the attendant rather than locking it up.
• You can get fined or towed. Speeding in the garage or taking somebody else's space is $100.

Guest Parking Guidelines (Community Manual, Attachment 6); Community Rules §§10.2–10.7, with §§10.3, 10.4, 11.1, and 11.2 as amended by Doc 2022025778.

Your space & storage box

• Your parking space is for your vehicle, motorcycle, scooter, bikes, and mobility devices. Everything else goes inside your storage box, not on the floor, under it, or on top of it. After a 10-day notice it's $25 a day, and items get removed 30 days out.
• No trailers, boats, vans, campers, motorcycles, or scooters in common areas except where the Board has designated space.

More on your storage box and the shared storage rooms: Storage.

Community Rules §§10.3–10.4 as amended by Doc 2022025778; §11.2. Storage-room violations: §9.1 says $25 a day, but the later 2023 fine schedule says $100 a day.

• Bikes must be registered with the office. Head-in spaces can keep a bike in front, below the storage box, or on a wall rack installed only by building maintenance. The shared racks use assigned, numbered spots. A bike left in disrepair gets a 10-day notice, then $25 a day.
• Carts and bikes ride the service elevator. They go on the passenger elevators only when the service elevator is out of service or reserved. See Elevator rules.

Community Rules §§10.3, 10.4, 11.1 as amended by Doc 2022025778. Register your bike with the office; the garage supervisor handles bike registration.

• EV charging: none of the governing documents mention electric vehicles. Assigned parking spaces are limited common elements, and no owner may install equipment or wiring in the common elements, or alter them, without the association's approval. Ask the General Manager before buying a charger, and get any arrangement in writing. Revised Declaration §§1.3, 2.1(f), 2.4(b); Community Rules §7.2

Changing your parking space

1. Know what you have. Your space and its storage bin are a limited common element: yours to use exclusively, but not owned, and the Board assigns and can reassign them. Your unit is guaranteed its allocated number of spaces (one for most residential units). Revised Declaration §1.3 (Doc 2020203869); Community Rules §10.1
2. Watch for the February notice. Every February the General Manager invites owners to the annual parking reallocation. Awarded spaces take effect the last Sunday of March, after UT Spring Break and SXSW. To take part, return the signed form by the deadline with your current space, your unit, and your purchase date (even if you've given it before).
3. Your space goes into the pool along with the open spaces and those of everyone else who joins. Owners already using one of the open spaces are entered automatically.
4. Rank your choices from the full pool list management sends back, by the second deadline.
5. Management proposes assignments and the Board approves them, by seniority of ownership within these priorities: (1) owners using the unit as a primary or second home, not a rental; (2) owners of a commercial unit operating their own business there; (3) investor owners renting to tenants.
6. Special rules: a tenant who buys their unit can use a provable, uninterrupted move-in date for seniority; an owner selling one unit and buying another at the same time keeps seniority and picks which space to keep; oversized vehicles that stick into the drive aisle can be moved to a space that fits; very short or hard-to-navigate spaces can go to owners without a car, compact cars, or motorcycles.
7. If you don't get any of your choices, you keep your current space. Otherwise it stays yours until a new assignment or a sale. Condominium Regulations §§6.1–6.2
8. Use only your assigned space. Parking in someone else's is a $100 fine. Community Rules §10.1; fine schedule (Doc 2023044833)

Steps 2–7 follow the General Manager's February 5, 2026 parking reallocation notice, his October 26, 2026 description of the annual cycle, and the criteria the Board approved in 2023; they aren't part of the recorded documents. The documents don't address owners swapping or renting spaces among themselves; spaces posted for rent on the BuildingLink bulletin board are private arrangements.

Balconies & building appearance

• Window coverings need a white or off-white backing so the building looks uniform from the street. No shades, awnings, window guards, ventilators, fans, or reflective film without Board approval.
• Don't hang or shake anything out a window or over a balcony. No clothing, antennas, flags, or signs. Nothing on the balcony sticks up above the rail.
• Exterior Christmas lights and decorations visible from outside are prohibited.
• Keep the sliding doors shut when you're away and when weather is coming.
• You can decorate your entry alcove within limits. Rugs and mats in the corridor are out.

Pigeons roosting on yours? See Pigeons on your balcony.

Community Rules §§5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 6.4.

• Occupancy limit. No more than two unrelated people per unit unless everybody's one family, and a family can't be more than twice the number of bathrooms. Violations run $250 a day.
• Residential use only above the first floor. Showing your unit, keeping your own records, taking work calls, all of that is fine; regular client meetings in the unit are not.
• Renting out your unit? There's a 20% rental cap and a required process. See Leasing Your Unit.

Condominium Regulations §§7.1–7.2; Revised Declaration §2.1(a)–(b) (Doc 2020203869); fines per the 5/1/2023 schedule (Doc 2023044833).

Service elevator only

• Moving in or out
• Construction workers and their materials; contractors bring all tools, equipment, and materials up on the service elevator
• Trunks, furniture, and appliances
• Grocery carts, luggage carts, and bicycles

Exception: carts and bikes may use a passenger elevator when the service elevator is out of service or reserved for someone's move.

Also

• Nothing stays on an elevator overnight; moves are daytime only.
• Don't leave carts unattended in any elevator. Take them back down to the garage.
• Don't leave trash or recycling on the service elevator.
• With a pet, use the service elevator when it's available (a request, not a rule).

Community Rules Rule Group XI, §§11.1–11.2 as amended (Doc 2022025778); Community Rules §4.5 (pets); Contractor Rules, rule 10.

Water damage, and who pays for it

In a high-rise, one bad supply line can soak three floors. So the rules here are strict, and they got stricter on January 1, 2023.

• If it starts in your unit, it's on you. You're liable to the Association for damage to the building and common areas, and to your neighbors for damage to their units and their stuff. That covers a condition in your unit or anything you, your family, tenants, contractors, repair people, or guests did or failed to do.
• Neighbor to neighbor, the Association stays out of it. If your unit gets damaged from upstairs, it's your job, not the Association's, to go after the owner responsible.
• Staff can come in if water's running and you're gone. By rule, every owner is deemed to authorize entry in a water emergency.
• Your air handler is your problem. The condensate drain and pan are yours to maintain.

Community Rules §2.2 as amended effective 1/1/2023 (Doc 2022193994); §12.2; Condominium Regulations §3.6. Ask your own insurance agent how your HO-6 policy and the association's master policy work together for water damage. The insurance requirements are under What the documents say.

Leak prevention: what every unit needs

These aren't suggestions. They're required of every owner.

• A working unit shut-off valve, so a leak stops at your door.
• Braided metal supply lines with threaded metal connectors (not plastic) and working shut-offs on every toilet, sink, shower, tub, and dishwasher.
• Same for anything with a water line: refrigerators, ice makers, wine coolers, cooling drawers.
• Washing machines need all of that plus a catch-basin pan underneath and a drain hose professionally plumbed to the outlet pipe. (The documents that address washing machines are listed under Renovations & Contractors.)
• A cut-off valve on your air handler's overflow pipe, and have a pro clear that overflow pipe every year. Appliances should be inspected every two to three years.
• Any plumbing work needs the GM and Chief Building Engineer to approve it first. No additional water fixtures.
• Nothing down the toilet or disposal it wasn't built for. No grease, eggshells, peels, coffee grounds, rags, or paper. String mop heads aren't recommended either.

Community Rules §2.2(A)–(I), effective 1/1/2023. The annual overflow-pipe cleaning is the one people forget, and air-handler overflow is one of the most common leaks in towers like ours.

Heating & cooling: what's yours and what's the building's

• The building runs a central heating and cooling plant. The Declaration lists "installations of all central services, including ... heating, air conditioning" as common elements, and the cooling tower by the pool is part of it. The association maintains it.
• The air handler in your unit is yours. So are the ducts and anything else serving only your unit, wherever it sits. You own it, you maintain it, and you pay if its condensate drain or pan floods a neighbor.
• Keep the balcony doors shut when the system is running. The rules call an open door an "energy drain" on the building's heating and cooling.

Revised Declaration §1.1(e) (common elements) and §1.1(y) (unit includes air ducts and air handlers serving only that unit), Doc 2020203869; Community Rules Rule Group VI (balcony doors) and §12.2 (unit air handlers); §2.2(A), (G)–(H) as amended effective 1/1/2023.

How the building-wide HVAC system works

• It's a 2-pipe system: the whole building is in either heating mode or cooling mode, never both. In cooling mode heat isn't available, and in heating mode cooling isn't available.
• The outside temperature decides. At 58°F or below the building is in heating mode; at 59°F or above, cooling mode.
• A Building Automation System makes the switch, using a temperature sensor on the south side of the building. That reading may not match the Weather Channel or your phone, so the building can change modes when you don't expect it.
• That's why fall and spring bring the most questions: on days that swing across 58–59°F, your unit may not give you the mode you want.

General Manager's notice to owners and residents, "Cambridge Tower Heating/Cooling System," October 18, 2026, with the building's Resident Thermostat Instruction sheet. Thermostat models vary by unit; if yours doesn't match, ask the front desk. The instruction sheet is below.

A thermostat that works here

The former building maintenance supervisor, Dennis, recommended the Honeywell SuitePRO TB8575A1000: a non-programmable, 3-speed fan coil thermostat for 2- or 4-pipe systems, 24 VAC. No Wi-Fi thermostat is known to work with the building's system yet.

Found a Wi-Fi thermostat that works well with the building system? Message Pops so it can be shared here. Before swapping yours, check with the Chief Building Engineer.

Resident thermostat instructions

The building's one-page sheet: turning the unit on and off, fan settings, and setting the temperature, plus how the building switches between heating and cooling. The thermostat pictured on the sheet is the Honeywell SuitePRO TB8575A1000 described above.

Bottom line: no new washers, dryers, or plumbing fixtures

New washers, dryers, and additional plumbing fixtures can't be installed in units.

• July 2019: an engineering report on the building's sewer stacks concluded that adding washing machines or other draining appliances should stop. The Board announced that, from then on, owners would be told no more washers and dryers can be installed in the building. Board minutes, July 18, 2019
• 2024 Contractor Rules, rule 14: "Additional plumbing fixtures are not permitted, nor are washing machines." Amended 1/25/2024, recorded Doc 2024013317
• Already have one? Existing washers must meet the 2022 equipment rules: braided metal supply lines, threaded metal connectors, a catch-basin pan, a professionally plumbed drain, and working shut-off valves. Community Rules §2.2(E), effective 1/1/2023
• Use the laundry rooms on the south end of the even-numbered floors (pay with the Monster Pay app). See Laundry.

Washing machines: the applicable documents

The recorded Community Manual (Doc 2020203870, Attachment 5) contains an earlier set of contractor rules. The Board amended them on 1/25/2024 and recorded the new rules on 2/8/2024 (Doc 2024013317) to "replace and supersede" the earlier ones, so the 2024 version controls on the record, not just in practice. Three differences matter:

The 2024 amendment also added the certified third-party permit review requirement and the Type 1-A construction disclosure, neither of which appears in the recorded version.

Washing machines: the applicable documents.

• 2020 recorded Contractor Rules (Attachment 5, rule 18): washer installations must be code-compliant, and washers must be front-loading.
• 2022 recorded Community Rules amendment (§2.2(E), effective 1/1/2023): sets requirements for "existing and replacement" laundry washing machines: braided metal water supply lines, threaded metal connectors, a catch-basin water pan, a professionally plumbed drain line, and working shut-off valves.
• 2024 Contractor Rules (rule 14): "Additional plumbing fixtures are not permitted, nor are washing machines."

Read the documents themselves: Community ManualDownloadPrint (Attachment 5), 2022 amendmentDownloadPrint, 2024 Contractor RulesDownloadPrint.

Each unit is individually metered, and the meter is read once a year, in November. Here's how that becomes your monthly charge:

1. Every November, management sends a meter-reading notice. Read your unit's electric meter, fill in the reading, unit number, date, and your printed name on the notice, sign it, and return it to the office (paper, or a scan or photo by email) by the deadline on it.
2. Don't return it, and staff reads the meter for you. Readings for units without a returned notice start the day after the deadline.
3. Austin Energy's rates are applied to the kilowatt-hours you used over the year, and the total is divided by 12.
4. That becomes your monthly Electric Assessment for the following year, billed in arrears: each November's reading sets the next year's fee.

An accurate reading matters, because it sets a full year of charges. Commercial units are read monthly. Per the November 2025 meter-reading notice. The formula isn't written into the governing documents.

What the governing documents do say:

• Common areas are paid from the association's budget. So is any unit utility that isn't separately metered or charged.
• Utilities separately metered or charged to your unit are yours to pay, along with your monthly charge.
• Your share of the association's budget follows your unit's Percentage Ownership Interest, listed in Exhibit D to the Declaration.

Revised Declaration §§1.1(v), 3.8(a), 4.1 and Exhibit D (Doc 2020203869); Condominium Regulations Art. I, §1.1.

The association has a 60-month bulk contract with Spectrum, renewed effective October 3, 2025, covering internet and TV for every unit. The Colorado Room has its own guest Wi-Fi; the front desk has the password.

• Internet: Spectrum Internet Gig, speeds up to 1 Gbps, with one free modem and router. Existing equipment works; new equipment is plug-and-play from the Spectrum Store at Hancock Center or by delivery. An on-site technician visit costs extra.
• TV: Spectrum TV Select Plus (160+ channels) with two free devices, a Spectrum receiver or a Xumo Stream Box. Streaming services included at no extra cost: HBO Max Basic with ads, ESPN Unlimited, Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+ Essential, Peacock Premium with ads, FOX One, AMC+ with ads, Tennis Channel, and ViX Premium with ads. Activate them at Spectrum.com/appactivation ↗.
• Set up your account at Spectrum.net ↗ to see your channel lineup.
• Questions: Spectrum Bulk Contract Customer Support, 1-833-697-7328.
• How you pay: through a Cable Assessment set each year in the association's annual assessment notice, not a Spectrum bill.

General Manager's letter to owners, "New Spectrum Bulk Contract Features Effective 10/3/25."

What the documents require

1. Pay your monthly charge by the 1st. Special assessments are due within 10 days of the invoice. Anything more than 10 days late adds a $25 late charge, and another $25 each month it stays unpaid. Each owner is personally liable. Revised Declaration §§4.1, 4.3 (Doc 2020203869)
2. Pay the costs assigned to your unit, including any utility costs and charges for staff services to your unit. Condominium Regulations Art. I, §1.1 (Doc 2020203870)
3. Carry your own condo policy with at least $300,000 in liability coverage, list the association as certificate holder, and send it a certificate every year. Community Rules §2.4 (Doc 2022025778)
4. Own through an LLC, trust, or other entity? Give the association proof of who can act for it within 30 days of taking title, update it within 30 days of any change, and confirm it at least once a year. Until you do, the entity can't vote or request records. Community Rules §2.6 (Doc 2022025778)
5. Keep water in your unit. A working unit shut-off valve; braided metal supply lines with threaded metal connectors and working shut-offs on every fixture and appliance with a water line; a cut-off valve on the air handler's overflow pipe, cleared by a professional every year. Community Rules §2.2(B)–(H) (Doc 2022193994)
6. Get approval before plumbing or renovation work. The General Manager and Chief Building Engineer sign off on plumbing first, and no additional water fixtures. You, your contractor, and the GM all sign the contractor rules before work starts. Renovations Community Rules §2.2(A), (C) (Doc 2022193994)
7. Maintain your air handler, including the condensate drain and pan. It's yours, and so is any water damage it causes. Community Rules §12.2; Revised Declaration §1.1(y)
8. Follow the fire rules. Keep working smoke detectors in every bedroom and the adjoining hallway, or as the Austin Fire Department requires; checking them is the occupant's job. Keep a working fire extinguisher in the unit. No open flame, including candles. Fire safety rules Community Rules §§3.1, 3.3, 3.4
9. Answer for damage that starts in your unit, whether caused by you, your family, tenants, contractors, or guests, to the building, the common elements, or your neighbors. Community Rules §2.2 (Doc 2022193994); Condominium Regulations Art. I, §1.2
10. Follow the House Rules, and make sure everyone who moves in does the occupancy orientation within two weeks: smoking & fire safety, pets, parking & storage. Community Rules §§3.1–3.5, 4.2, 4.5, 9.1, 10.3–10.4
11. Leasing or selling? Both have requirements that start before you list. See Leasing your unit and Selling.

Vantaca portal

Worth Ross's homeowner login, and your account. It shows your charges, balance, statements, and payment history. You can also pay here, straight off your ledger.

Alliance Association Bank

Payments only. One-time or recurring eCheck, and it's free; paying by card adds a processing fee. It doesn't show your account history or handle anything else.

The rental cap at a glance

Since December 1, 2023, no more than 20% of units may be leased at any one time (33 of 168 units when the rule took effect). Units that were rentals on that date are grandfathered, and owners who owned then but weren't renting hold a personal waiver. Both end on sale. Everyone else needs the General Manager's permission before marketing the unit. Community Rules §4.3.6, 4.3.9 (Doc 2023130636)

Step by step

1. Get current on your account. No owner may lease while owing assessments or other charges. Community Rules §4.3.5 (Doc 2023130636)
2. Find out your unit's status. Grandfathered (a rental on 12/1/2023 that hasn't lost that status) or covered by your personal automatic waiver (you owned on 12/1/2023 but weren't renting)? Then you're approved to lease if you follow the rest. Otherwise go to step 3. A unit leased to the owner's parent, spouse, sibling, child, grandchild, or grandparent, or shared with a roommate, isn't a rental. §§4.3.0, 4.3.6(a), (d)(2), 4.3.9
3. Ask the General Manager for permission before you offer the unit. If the building is under the 20% cap, you'll be approved. If it's at the cap, choose the waitlist or ask the Board for a hardship waiver. §§4.3.6(b), (d)(3)–(4), 4.3.10
4. Before marketing, sign the acknowledgment that you've received the mandatory Cambridge Tower Lease Addendum, and submit it to management. §4.3.3
5. Advertise only terms of five months or more. No short-term rentals; the owner pays the association all the rent received. §§4.3.1, 4.3.2
6. Sign a lease within 90 days of permission, or you have to reapply. §4.3.6(b)
7. Write the lease to the rules: in writing, at least five continuous months, incorporating the Community Rules, Condominium Regulations, and Declaration by reference, with the Lease Addendum attached and signed by you and every tenant. No subleases or assignments. Respect the occupancy limit. §§4.3.1, 4.3.3; Condominium Regulations §7.1
8. Within 7 days after the tenant gets possession, deliver the signed lease and addendum to the management office. Late is a $250 fine and can cost you the right to lease. §4.3.3; §4.3.8
9. Pay the $250 lease transfer fee. Renewals with the same tenants, and the same tenants moving to another unit, are exempt. §4.3.4
10. Get your tenant oriented within two weeks of move-in, and add them to your front desk instructions. Community Rules §4.2
11. During the lease: you remain liable for your tenant's damage. If the tenant leaves early, no one else moves in without Board approval. A pattern of early terminations, missing paperwork, or rule violations can cost the unit its rental status after notice and a hearing, and the association can void a noncompliant lease and evict at your expense. §§4.3.1, 4.3.7, 4.3.8; Community Rules §2.2
12. Watch the clock between tenants. A grandfathered unit loses that status if it sits unleased or owner-occupied for 12 consecutive months. §4.3.6(a)

Sections 4.3.x are Community Rules §4.3 as replaced effective 12/1/2023 (Doc 2023130636). Full leasing rule (PDF)DownloadPrint

Selling, step by step

1. Order the resale certificate early. One must be issued by the association and given to the buyer before closing; the association may require payment up front. Current fees: $375 resale disclosure package, $75 update, plus $450 for three-business-day or $500 for one-business-day rush. Contact Worth Ross at (855) 435-4596 or info4hoa@worthross.com. Community Rules §13.6(A) (Doc 2022140392); Management Certificate (Doc 2026020671)
2. Get the full list of current fees from the association. Determining them is the seller's responsibility. §13.6(D)
3. Tell your buyer about the rental cap. Grandfathered status and any personal leasing waiver end when you sell to an unrelated buyer, so a buyer who wants to rent must apply. §§4.3.6(a), (f), 4.3.9 (Doc 2023130636)
4. Bring your account current. Unpaid charges, late fees, and fines are a lien on the unit. Revised Declaration §§4.3, 4.4; fines schedule (Doc 2023044833)
5. At closing, the association is paid: a Reserve Fund Contribution Fee of three times the unit's monthly regular assessment (combined units pay per original unit), plus the $375 transfer fee and other resale fees on the current schedule. Fees not paid at closing are charged to the buyer's account, and all of them are collectible like assessments. §13.6(B)–(F); Management Certificate (Doc 2026020671)
6. Your parking space doesn't automatically pass to the buyer. When ownership changes, the space assigned to the unit becomes available for reassignment under the Board's guidelines. The unit keeps its allocated number of spaces, but not necessarily the same one, so the buyer should ask the General Manager before closing. Condominium Regulations §6.2; Revised Declaration §1.3
7. Clear out the storage room. Items must be removed as soon as you no longer own a unit or live here. Community Rules §9.1 (Doc 2022025778)
8. Hand off to the buyer: keys, plus a note to ask the front desk about updating building access and Brivo, and a reminder that they owe an occupancy orientation within two weeks, an insurance certificate, and (if buying through an entity) proof of authority within 30 days. Community Rules §§2.4, 2.6 (Doc 2022025778), §4.2

A lender's foreclosure on a purchase-money or improvement mortgage is exempt from the reserve fee; tax sales and foreclosure sales to third parties are not. §13.6(C).

Buying: before and after closing

• The seller must give you a resale certificate before closing. If none is requested and the sale goes through anyway, the record-update fees land on your account. Community Rules §13.6(A), (E) (Doc 2022140392)
• Resale fees not paid at closing become yours. Make sure the title company collects them. §13.6(D)
• Planning to rent it out? The seller's grandfathered status or waiver doesn't transfer. Check the cap first. §4.3.6(f) (Doc 2023130636)
• Ask about the parking space. It becomes available for reassignment when ownership changes; the unit keeps its number of spaces, not necessarily the same one. Condominium Regulations §6.2
• Buying through an LLC, trust, or other entity? Send proof of authority within 30 days. Community Rules §2.6 (Doc 2022025778)
• After closing: insurance certificate, occupancy orientation within two weeks, and your logins. See the New resident checklist.

The basics

There are detailed rules for any repair or renovation inside a unit, amended 1/25/2024. Read them before you hire anybody. Work that doesn't comply can get torn out and done over, and that's an expensive lesson.

• Work hours. 8:30 to 5:00, Monday through Friday. No weekends, no holidays.
• You need a certified third-party permit review before anything starts. Pull a consultant off the General Manager's list, or get the GM to approve one of your own. It can't be your contractor. They write an opinion to the GM saying either no City permits are needed or naming exactly which ones are.
• Turn in your scope of work and copies of any City permits to the HOA Office Manager before you start. Laminated copies go on your front door or in the door box.
• Insurance. The Association recommends you get a certificate of insurance from your contractor, and it carries no liability coverage for contractors working for owners. Under the rules, the owner answers for the contractor's work.
• Contractor-rule violations run $100 a day under the 2023 fine schedule, plus cleaning and repair costs, billed to the owner. Leave it unpaid and it becomes a lien on your unit.

Signing the contractor rules

The 2024 rules end in a signature page. The owner and the contractor sign it, and the General Manager countersigns it, before any work is authorized.

1. Download or print the rules and give your contractor a copy. Rules Regarding Repairs and/or Renovation (PDF)DownloadPrint
2. You and your contractor sign and date the signature page.
3. Email the signed rules as an attachment to the General Manager, Tom Schurr, with your unit, contractor, scope of work, and start date, or drop them at the front desk. Plumbing work also needs the Chief Building Engineer's sign-off.
4. Don't start until the GM has countersigned.

No printer or scanner? Fill and sign it on your phone (on iPhone, open the PDF, tap Share, then Markup), or print it and snap a clear photo. No mail app set up? Copy the address and send it from Gmail, Outlook, or whatever you use. The front desk can also take a paper copy: (512) 478-7218.

Things about this building your contractor needs to know

• Asbestos. This building goes back to the mid-1960s, and some of the original material, ceiling texture especially, can contain asbestos that needs licensed removal or containment. The City requires testing before it issues certain permits.
• Type 1-A construction. Every wall, floor, and ceiling assembly has to be non-combustible, including the partitions inside your unit that aren't holding anything up. Touching a fire-rated partition needs a permit. So does swapping a tub or shower.
• Plumbing. Needs the GM and the Chief Building Engineer to sign off on top of any City permit, and you have to put in isolation shut-off valves separating your kitchen and bath from the common water loop. No extra fixtures. For washing machines, see the applicable documents listed below.
• Soundproofing. Any major renovation or interior wall change means adding insulation on the walls you share with neighbors. New flooring needs soundproofing too. Your neighbors will notice if you skip it.
• Don't touch the common elements. No drilling or chipping into the concrete slab or ceiling, or anything that serves more than one unit.

Day to day while the work is going on

• Protective film, 3M or similar, over the hallway carpet from the service elevator to your door. Goes down and comes up every day, and the carpet gets vacuumed at the end. Staff will handle it for $50 a day on your account.
• Service elevator only, for all tools, equipment, and materials.
• Keep front and balcony doors shut. Dust in the corridor sets off the fire alarm, and then the Fire Department comes through your unit.
• No strong-smelling materials, meaning oil-based paint, fiberglass or epoxy coating, without proper exhaust venting cleared by the Chief Building Engineer or GM.
• No staging or storing anything in the common areas without written approval from the GM. Contractors bring their own equipment.
• Construction debris never goes in the trash chutes. The dumpster needs written approval first and runs $100 a dump.
• No radios you can hear from the hallway. No smoking anywhere on the property, balconies included.
• Garage parking isn't guaranteed for work trucks, so line something up yourself.

You and your contractor both sign the rules, and so does the GM or AGM, before any work is authorized.

Units for sale as of October 30, 2026

10 units listed for sale. Asking prices run from about $384 to $525 a square foot. The source counts one of these as pending but doesn't say which. Source: Jacob in Austin, Cambridge Tower page ↗, checked October 30, 2026. Asking prices, not sale prices; a listing can sell or come off the market between updates. Updated daily.

Downtown condos, September 2026

Source: Jacob Hannusch, "Downtown Austin Condo Market Report: September 2026" ↗ (October 7, 2026), Unlock MLS data, September 2026 with rolling 12 months through September.

What it means here

• It's still a buyer's market downtown. Supply is at 10.8 months, and fewer contracts were signed than a year ago while listings ticked up.
• Prices are holding roughly steady. The 12-month price per square foot is about flat; the big drop in September's median is mostly a small-sample swing, as the report itself cautions.
• Cambridge asks well below the downtown median. Asking prices here run about $384 to $525 a square foot against $691 downtown. The downtown figure is pulled up by the newer towers; Cambridge dates to 1965.

The comparison is my reading of the sources on this page and Units for sale, not a published analysis or an appraisal. Not financial, investment, or real-estate advice.

Is your appraisal too high?

Home Tax Review is a service for Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties. Its free check compares your appraised value with similar homes in about a minute, no account needed. An optional $59 protest kit gives you comparables, a hearing script, and filing steps; it doesn't file or attend the hearing for you. Filing a protest with the appraisal district is free either way.

The 2026 rates

Five taxing units bill a Cambridge unit. Each rate is per $100 of taxable value.

Rates from Community Impact, "Where Austin property taxes go this year" ↗ (Oct. 2026). Your own bill is the final word; it lists every unit that taxes your property.

A quick estimate

Taxable value × 0.02121064. A unit with a $450,000 taxable value and no exemptions comes to about $9,545 for 2026. Exemptions lower the taxable value before the rate applies.

Illustration only. Your appraised value and exemptions are on the appraisal district's site.

Key dates

Exemptions to file for

• Homestead (your primary residence): $140,000 off for school taxes, plus 20% off the city, county, and Central Health values ($5,000 minimum), and the greater of 1% or $5,000 off for ACC. File once with the appraisal district.
• Age 65 or older, or disabled: an extra $60,000 state and $25,000 local off school taxes, plus a school-tax ceiling that freezes that portion of your bill; also $204,000 off the city value, $145,269 off the county, and $75,000 off ACC.
• Rentals and second homes don't get homestead exemptions.

Exemption amounts as summarized by David Eimer, "Travis County property tax 2026" ↗. Confirm yours on your appraisal district account.

Look up your unit's taxable value

Search the Travis Central Appraisal District by "1801 Lavaca" and your unit number to see your appraised value, exemptions, and value history.

File a protest or exemption online

Use the appraisal district's online portal to protest your value or apply for a homestead or over-65 exemption. Filing is free.

• Protest deadline: May 15, or 30 days after your notice is mailed, whichever is later. In 2027 the 15th is a Saturday, so the deadline moves to Monday, May 17.
• With one sale in the building in the past year and listings sitting for months, a protest backed by asking prices and days on market is worth considering.

Protest deadline and portal per the Travis Central Appraisal District ↗.

Pay your bill to the Travis County Tax Office

Bills are mailed starting in October. Pay by January 31, 2027 to avoid penalties; from February 1 a 6% penalty plus 1% interest applies.

Who's on the board

Officers per the June 18, 2026 board minutes and the October 26, 2026 notice to owners.

Board meetings are held about monthly, recently on Thursdays at 1:15 p.m. in the Colorado Room and by Zoom. They're listed on the Social Calendar and in the weekly Social Committee email. Write to the board through management or the Board Secretary.

Committees

Common Areas Committee, formed by the Board in June 2026, and the resident-run Social Committee. The Board can constitute others. Common Areas Committee meetings show up on the Social Calendar.

The annual meeting

• Quorum: approximately 89–90 voting interests
• Bylaw amendments: require 60% of the owner votes, which are weighted by unit. Proposed amendments to Bylaws Articles II and VII failed that threshold in 2024
• The 2025 special assessment was approved by owners 104 to 6 at the March 13, 2025 annual meeting. Owner approval is required under Revised Declaration §4.2. The minutes don't state its purpose; the ballot and notice will
• Want something discussed? Put it in writing to the board secretary or management before the meeting notice goes out. The chair controls how much owner-forum time there is, so a short written summary attached to your request gets further than a long speech

Minutes, reports & financials

The minutes are the official record of what the board did. Each month's minutes are posted to the BuildingLink library after the Board approves them, usually a meeting or two later. If the "Board Meeting Minutes" shortcut opens to nothing for you, check how BuildingLink lists you: at least one owner account set up as "Other Occupant" rather than owner could not see the minutes or the 2025 Special Assessment folder. Ask the front desk to correct your profile.

Opens the BuildingLink document library; the minutes are in the Meeting Minutes folder. Sign in as an owner to see them. Annual-meeting minutes are approved at the following year's meeting, so each year's appear about a year later.

Minutes, financial records, and GM reports are association records, kept seven years under the association's own rule, and you can request copies. The request goes by certified mail.

Which document controls

Four levels, highest first. When two documents conflict, the higher one wins — except that the Board may amend rules at its own level, which is why the 2024 contractor rules displace the version bound into the 2020 manual.

1. Revised Declaration (1989, as amended through 2017 and compiled in 2020) — the recorded condominium instrument. Amendable only by owner vote.
2. Bylaws — corporate governance. Amendable by 60% of the owner votes (votes are weighted by unit, Declaration §3.3).
3. Condominium Regulations — amendable by a majority of owners eligible to vote, at a meeting whose notice contains the full text of the change (Declaration §9.3).
4. Community Rules & standalone policies — amendable by the Board under Community Rules §§14.1–14.2 and Declaration §9.4: ten-day posting, a 30-day hold if three owners object, and approval by at least three Board members. Owners can also amend the rules at an annual meeting (§14.2(E)).

Items 2 through 4 were restated in their entirety in the 2020 Community Manual. Since then the Board has amended the Community Rules by six recorded filings, from August 2021 through November 2023, and replaced the Contractor Rules in February 2024. All seven are in this guide, above.

Owners signed in to BuildingLink can open these in the Building library. If a folder shows up empty, your profile may be set to "Other Occupant" instead of owner; ask management to correct it.

These stay in BuildingLink for owners and aren't reposted here. Minutes, financial records, and contracts are association records you can also request in writing.

How to request records

The association's own recorded rule sets the procedure, and it's specific:

• In writing, by certified mail, to the association's mailing address on its current management certificate: The Cambridge Condominiums Council of Owners, 1801 Lavaca Street, Austin, TX 78701 (Doc 2026020671, February 2026). A copy to Worth Ross at 6565 N. MacArthur Blvd. #420, Irving, TX 75039 doesn't hurt.
• Describe what you want in enough detail, and say whether you want to inspect first or have copies sent.
• 10 business days to produce copies or schedule an inspection. If they can't, they must tell you in writing and give a date within 15 business days of that notice.
• They can charge copy and labor costs at the state maximums and ask for payment up front. Owner violation histories, owners' personal financial and contact information, and employee information are exempt.

Community Rules, Record Production (Doc 2021193523, recorded 8/30/2021). The button drafts the letter in your mail app. Email it as a courtesy copy if you like, but print it and send it certified, because certified mail is what the rule names.

Coming up

From the weekly Social Committee email, checked every morning. Weekly regulars (Happy Hour, Canasta, Meditation) are below.

What's on it

The calendar has the dates and times. The write-ups and links come in the weekly Social Committee email through BuildingLink, so watch for that one.

• Happy Hour. Wednesdays at 5:30 in the Colorado Room. BYOB.
• Canasta. Tuesdays at 2:00 in the Colorado Room, and they mean it about beginners being welcome. Ask Laura to be added to the Canasta email list.
• Meditation. Wednesdays at 11:00 in the Colorado Room, led by Jackie.
• Book Club — periodic Sundays at 2:00, Colorado Room. Reading list on the Book Club Padlet ↗
• Common Areas Committee, Social Committee, and Board meetings show up here too, along with walk-over outings to UT concerts, lectures, and museums.

Two you don't want to miss: Oktoberfest by the pool in late October, and the Holiday Party in December. The weekly email goes out Monday mornings. The Social Committee is chaired by Suzanne, with Laura as secretary; send them events you'd like listed, especially ones you're performing in or within walking distance.

Getting on a list

Most of these groups are run by residents, not management, and the weekly email has the contact for each one. New to the building? Wednesday Happy Hour is the easiest place to start. Nobody expects anything of you.

The Social Committee runs a digital suggestion box. Event ideas, things you'd like to see around the building, anything worth mentioning without making a whole thing of it.

Heads up: this goes to the Social Committee, not the Board. If you need something on the record with management, use the message-to-manager form instead. For a board meeting date, see Minutes.

Feature films on the IMAX screen

Features run about $17 for adults and $15 for seniors 65 and up; Bullock members get $1 off. Showtimes appear when you add a ticket in the Bullock's ticket store.

Documentaries and the Texas Spirit Theater

Most days the IMAX screen also runs documentaries, about 40 to 45 minutes each: Horse Power, Superhuman Body, Lost Wolves of Yellowstone, Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story and Train Time, plus Spanish showings of Cuerpos Humanos and El Poder del Caballo. The Texas Spirit Theater runs short multisensory shows.

The Bullock is at 1800 N. Congress Ave., at MLK, a short walk from our front door: one block north and two blocks east. The museum is open daily 10 am to 5 pm.

CapMetro

MetroRapid 801 and 803 plus a few local routes run right up Guadalupe and Lavaca. Closest stops are within two blocks of our lobby.

Walk times from the lobby

Airport (AUS)

Figure 20 to 30 minutes by car if it isn't rush hour. Or take CapMetro Route 20 between downtown, UT, and the airport: every 15 to 30 minutes, seven days a week, $1.25 a ride. After midnight, Route 483 (Night Owl) connects the airport to 6th Street downtown.

Game days and Capitol events

UT home football games, festivals, and Capitol Complex events close streets and fill the state garages around us. Management forwards the Texas Facilities Commission's Game Day Parking and Capitol Complex Special Events newsletters through BuildingLink, so check those before you drive on a Saturday.

Coming up

From the Texas Facilities Commission newsletters management forwards, checked every morning.

Every UT home game day

• 18th St. closes from San Jacinto Blvd. to Trinity St. 2 to 4 hours before kickoff. Use MLK Blvd. or 15th St. instead.
• 17th St. closes from San Jacinto Blvd. to Trinity St. at Scholz Garten, barricaded until the post-game crowd clears.
• Traffic changes stay in place until about an hour after kickoff, and Capitol Complex streets are busy all day.
• State Garages B, Q and R (San Jacinto Blvd.) are UT alumni-permit parking only. Other state parking not open to the public is closed.
• Park-and-ride: paid public parking at the state lot at 701 W. 51st St. (Lot 26), from 6 pm the day before to noon the day after, with a UT shuttle to the stadium starting 3 hours before kickoff.

TFC Game Day Parking Special Events Newsletter, fall 2026. A December home game is listed as TBA.

Where to vote

Polling places can change from one election to the next. Travis County's official elections site, VoteTravis, posts the early-voting and Election Day locations for whatever election is coming up, along with sample ballots and results. In Travis County you can vote at any county polling place, so pick whichever is closest.

Who represents you

Enter 1801 Lavaca St, Austin, TX 78701 and Common Cause lists your elected officials, how to contact them, the bills they've introduced, their committees, and the contributions they've received.

Common Cause is a nonpartisan nonprofit. Pops has no affiliation with it.

Ready to copy and send to a guest, driver, or contractor.

The garage entrance is on W. 18th St, not on Lavaca. It's under the tower on the north side of 18th, between Colorado St and Lavaca St, directly across from the Scottish Rite Theater (207 W. 18th St), a long white building with a red tile roof. Every route ends the same way: get onto Colorado St between MLK Blvd and 18th St, turn west onto W. 18th St, and the garage entrance is on your right.

From I-35, coming from the north (southbound)

Take exit 235A (15th St / MLK Blvd / State Capitol). Turn right on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and go west about half a mile, past Congress Ave. Turn left on Colorado St, then right on W. 18th St. The garage entrance is on your right.

From I-35, coming from the south (northbound), including from the airport

Take exit 235A (15th St / MLK Blvd / State Capitol). Turn left on 15th St, right on Trinity St, then left on 18th St. Stay on 18th heading west across Congress Ave and Colorado St. The garage entrance is on your right, just past Colorado.

From the west (MoPac)

Take the Enfield Rd exit and head east on Enfield Rd, which becomes W. 15th St. Turn left on Lavaca St, right on W. 17th St, left on Colorado St, then left on W. 18th St. The garage entrance is on your right.

From South Austin (Lamar Blvd)

Take Lamar Blvd north across the river. Turn right on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, right on Colorado St, then right on W. 18th St. The garage entrance is on your right.

When you arrive

Pull in through the gate under the tower and stop at the garage attendants' office on level 1P. Guest parking is between the attendants' office and the elevators. If you need help, call the front desk at (512) 478-7218.

Or have them scan this. It opens turn-by-turn directions to 207 W. 18th St:

Directions to the drop-off turning bay

Ready to copy and send to a rideshare driver, a friend picking you up, or a guest being dropped off.

The drop-off and pickup turning bay is in front of the building on the east side of Lavaca St, between W. 18th St and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Lavaca is one-way northbound here, so the bay is on your right. Every route ends the same way: get onto Lavaca St heading north, cross W. 18th St, and pull into the turning bay on your right.

From I-35, coming from the north (southbound)

Take exit 235A (15th St / MLK Blvd / State Capitol). Stay on the frontage road to 15th St and turn right on 15th. Go west about three quarters of a mile, past the Capitol, and turn right on Lavaca St. Cross W. 18th St; the turning bay is on your right.

From I-35, coming from the south (northbound), including from the airport

Take exit 235A (15th St / MLK Blvd / State Capitol). Turn left on 15th St and go west about three quarters of a mile, past the Capitol. Turn right on Lavaca St. Cross W. 18th St; the turning bay is on your right.

From the west (MoPac)

Take the Enfield Rd exit and head east on Enfield Rd, which becomes W. 15th St. Turn left on Lavaca St. Cross W. 18th St; the turning bay is on your right.

From South Austin (Lamar Blvd)

Take Lamar Blvd north across the river and exit onto W. 15th St heading east. Turn left on Lavaca St. Cross W. 18th St; the turning bay is on your right.

When you arrive

Pull into the turning bay in front of the building, drop off or pick up, and go. The front door is right there. Pickup and drop-off only; no parking. If you need help, call the front desk at (512) 478-7218.

Or have them scan this. It opens turn-by-turn directions to the turning bay: