Wow, that's a sharp looking building! I know it is kind of early, but what types of firms will be looking in to this building? Tech?

They should put a 700-foot spire on it and call it the tallest building in Austin.

[eidt] excuse the bitter comment. Like others, I was hoping for something a bit more substantial right there in the heart of down-town.

How would you position a more substantial (height-wise) project on that corner without impacting the south wall of the adjacent Bank of America Tower?

Rumor is a very prominent tech company is close to signing a lease for about 250,000 square feet - approximately half of the building's office space. The building is supposed to start construction this quarter and deliver by the end of 2016.

Here's an updated top 40 list of Austin's tallest under construction and proposed high rises. Much of Austin's booming construction activity is for residential mid-rises and not on the list.

Virtually all of the information was obtained from press releases, city permit searches, published articles and published renderings. I use Emporis high rise standards for including projects to the list.

There are several State, University of Texas and Travis County buildings where the status and height information is not easy to obtain and may not currently be as I have listed. I probably haven't even included all of them on this list. But all of these buildings are on the low end of the high rise scale. So I don't really care. :)

The top three on the list all have the potential to be Austin's new tallest. If they all get built as proposed Austin will have four towers in the ~650' to 700' range which will make for a nice skyline.

http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/...pdatePage1.png
http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/...pdatePage2.png

Thanks for the insight!

That could be why the start date was moved up from after the first tower currently U/C was completed in 2016.

Hotel Zaza's site plan was released about three weeks ago, but I don't see any building permit activity, other than old demolition permits.

Last time you said the rumor was Google. Has that changed? Is it typical for a deal like this to take this long to come together? I believe you first mentioned this a while back (March or April, I think).

It's just a rumor.

Yes deerhoof, it's supposed to be Google. CBRE is representing Google in their search for 200,000 to 250,000 square feet of office space in Austin. They've been looking at options for over a year.


And yes, it's just a rumor. Google was once rumored to be looking a building a building or two in the Domain for their Austin HQ, and also was rumored as one of the main tenants for Colorado Tower. All of those options fell through. This may not happen either, however Trammell Crow did move up the construction of a 500,000 square foot building with no preleasing in place (that we know of), so something is in the works. Either that or they are afraid they're going to miss the up-cycle if they wait too long.

Seven from this morning.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3869/...c9debfc2_b.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3894/...8a8fd92c_b.jpg

Colorado Tower

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3837/...e5ee2212_b.jpg

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...-downtown.html

Ironically, news was released just now that Google will lease space downtown at the old Children's Museum.

Yes - 22,000 square feet. They also signed a 2-year lease for 50,000 square feet a couple of months ago at University Park, the sad, empty office building over by UT that Andy Sarwal went to jail for. Both are expansion spaces. They are growing so fast and they are running out of room at their main office in North Austin. They want to have a headquarters downtown where everyone can be in one building. Its taking them a really long time to figure that out, though.

Such a history this corner has. I've always consdiered this a placeholder until a larger development happens. A slipcover.

Don't get folks on here started about the man who was behind the failed development of this property (he who shall not be named: Tom Stacy ).

Back in 2006 this was the proposal, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli.
At that time it included a revamp of the the building next door ( same owner) and a set back tower that would not block the tower to the north.

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/7...ongress5wn.jpg

image from urban planet

Google could still end up moving into Green Water (or some other new office tower). It sounds like they are just signing short term leases at various locations to warehouse employees until the right project comes along for a long term lease.

Facebook is also apparently growing their operations in Austin fairly quickly. Does anyone know if they are in need of space or if their current home at 300 W. 6th is big enough?

Unlike Google, Facebook is not 'actively' in the commercial real estate market looking for space at the moment. However, that doesn't mean they aren't looking - just means they're not being public about it. Developers are having lots of off-market (aka confidential) discussions with growing companies that could be prospective tenants right now. They are chasing deals so they can get some preleasing, commitments or at least show that there is interest in order to secure financing. It's a hot market out there. :)

Does anyone have an idea of where the final footprint of the tallest part of the ECC building will be?

Aren't they combining two towers to do a large one? I'd like to figure out what views will be blocked from certain angles.

We are a ways off from getting any specific info on this project.

I figured but I'm curious where such a building might be positioned (will it terrace away from the lake, etc). Don't worry, I don't count on it until construction clears the 20h floor.

Btw am I the only person that thinks Colorado tower ended up looking shorter than expected? Probably once the glass fills in up top it won't look that way