AUSTIN | High Live Trinity (99 Trinity) | ~750 FEET | FLOORS | Proposed

[Maximusx1]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Back on the market:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jcoddingt...w?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Excellent news. This is one of the top three most important undeveloped properties left downtown in my opinion. I'd be hoping for something like a 50+ story Grand Hyatt to open around the same time as the new convention center will be coming online.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Maximusx1

Excellent news. This is one of the top three most important undeveloped properties left downtown in my opinion. I'd be hoping for something like a 50+ story Grand Hyatt to open around the same time as the new convention center will be coming online.

Don't know (or care, really) about the brand - but, I would be shocked if whatever is built on this site did not include lodging.

From a lodging market perspective - Austin is okay right now. However, in the mid-to-long-term, we will need more rooms. Expect to see new developments go vertical in the coming 12-24 months with deliveries within +/- 12 months of the opening of the new convention center (2029ish).

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Don't know (or care, really) about the brand - but, I would be shocked if whatever is built on this site did not include lodging.

From a lodging market perspective - Austin is okay right now. However, in the mid-to-long-term, we will need more rooms. Expect to see new developments go vertical in the coming 12-24 months with deliveries within +/- 12 months of the opening of the new convention center (2029ish).

I agree. With this being almost exactly between the convention center and Rainey, I can't imagine anything other than either a hotel, or a hotel + condos/apartments.

[We vs us]

That parcel is about a half block in size, which matches the footprint of the Marriott Downtown. I think everyone's right that a hospitality use is almost certain here, but it'll probably not be as big as the JW, Fairmont, or Hilton. My guess is it either mirrors the Marriott (single tower, about 400 ft, 600 guestrooms or so) or it'll be a mixed use building -- maybe 250 keys and then either condos or rentals for the rest of the tower. More like our long lost Conrad.

[Urbannizer]

Under Contract:

https://invest.jll.com/us/en/listings/land/99-trinity

[Urbannizer]

I initially put ~1,000 feet in the title but it's difficult to get a good read on this one. The rendering makes it look larger than it may turn out to be.

https://www.texasglobalequity.com/99-trinity-street#top

Located between the Austin Convention Center, Lady Bird Lake, the Four Seasons complex, and the base of the Waterloo Greenway.

Vibrant lifestyle hotel with branded residences, complemented by entertainment-driven F&B, live music, and event programming.

[drummer]

^ Is this assuming the Lakeside Apartments go away?

[Urbannizer]

Early rough rendering where they omitted Lakeside for a better look.

Reminds me of Wells Fargo in Houston.

[drummer]

That makes sense. Hard to tell from this type of rendering if it would have included their plot of land as well.

[Riverranchdrone]

And here I thought Austin would slow down for a bit. Is this the start of Austin's next great building boom?

[GoldenBoot]

I wouldn't give either of these (3rd & Congress & 99 Trinity) the time of day until the developer OWNS the land and site development plans have been submitted to the city.

Until those two things are met (at least), these are "visions."

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

I wouldn't give either of these (3rd & Congress & 99 Trinity) the time of day until the developer OWNS the land and site development plans have been submitted to the city.

Until those two things are met (at least), these are "visions."

Exactly.

[wwmiv]

Design and rendering look AI generated. Hope it gets redesigned if it’s real (doubtful, like the other one).

[ILUVSAT]

IF anything eventually gets built on this site - there is an extremely good change it will look a lot different.

However, I would have to respectfully disagree with you - I love this design and hope it would not change. It's sleek and different from anything else in Austin. Nonetheless, we're all bantering about a vision of some developer who does not even own the land.

[Urbannizer]

I just ran this through an AI detector---it's a real rendering.

[Syndic]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Groundbreaking is currently planned to take place next month; June (2014).

Man, going back and reading the history on this one is really hilarious. We actually thought WCCG wasn't a massive fraud.

[urbancore]

Originally Posted by Syndic

Man, going back and reading the history on this one is really hilarious. We actually thought WCCG wasn't a massive fraud.

I was hired for this project to market/list the apartments for lease. I met with the team hired to build. I had a copy of the plans, helped work on the floorplans, unit mix, pricing, etc. I took many meetings at the Frost Bank Tower in anticipation of the ground breaking.

I know more that I can't get into, but suffice to say, this was a real project with real builders/agents/designers working on it. (GDA for instance)


Not making excuses, I too had the wool pulled out from under me, but it was not always obvious this particular project was a fraud. The other WCCG projects, who knows. But 100%, 99 was real....until it wasn't.

Years later, (post Fed raid) I presented a huge offer for the dirt (ten's of millions) it was rejected and never even countered. That is when I thought something was really weird.

[Urbannizer]

Anyone have access to the full article? HBJ has a new rendering.

Legal battle to buy downtown Austin World Class Holdings sites intensifies

The legal battle surrounding the sale of two prime redevelopment opportunities in downtown Austin owned by World Class Holdings has intensified, as one developer fights to retain its rights to purchase the sites and a new potential buyer enters the fray.

The two sites in question are 99 Trinity St. and an assemblage of sites around the Austonian condo tower — 201 Colorado St., 203 Colorado St. and a neighboring parking lot. They carry sky-high redevelopment potential for whomever can lay claim to them.

Greg Milligan — who in 2019 was named receiver by a Travis County court for the World Class-affiliated entities that own the properties — received court approval earlier this year to sell the properties for a combined $88.3 million to Texas Global Equity Property Fund XV LP, an investment arm of Austin-based Texas Global Equity Partners LLC. But a March 31 deadline to close on the sale came and went without the properties changing hands.

TGE’s purchase and sale agreement for the World Class properties was completed in March 2025. But later that year, a city of Austin decision to temporarily cap the height of downtown developments at 350 feet threw a wrench into TGE's plans. That temporary cap drastically reduced what could be developed at the sites and TGE now wants more time to buy the land.

TGE’s original plans for the two sites were two 950-foot-tall towers, each with hotel and live arts performance uses. But due to Austin’s recent changes in downtown height restrictions the projects have since been re-engineered to fit within 750-foot-tall envelopes, Gritz said. The original plans would still be pursuable with City Council approval.

Gritz previously told the ABJ that TGE did not want to renegotiate the $88.3 million sale price or back out of the deal, but wanted more time to close on the deal because of the uncertainty raised at City Hall.

Milligan declined to comment, but the receivership alleged in court filings that while TGE claims it cannot obtain funding, the reason is because TGE misrepresented aspects of the properties to investors and lenders.

Specifically, TGE allegedly represented the properties to its capital partners as fully entitled, zoned and approved, with no additional discretionary government approvals, variances or rezoning actions required — a representation that the receiver alleged it did not make.

“The problem for TGE is that it repeatedly agreed in the Purchase and Sale Agreements and their amendments for the Trinity Property and the Congress Property that it had completed its due diligence, that it was not relying on any representations by the Receiver, that it accepted the properties” as is, the filing stated.

TGE also alleged that the purchase and sale agreements should stand because the receiver failed to satisfy closing conditions.

But, in a July 7 court filing, the receivership challenged that claim and alleged that TGE’s own conduct caused the failure of the closing conditions.

“First, even if the sale orders lapsed by their own terms when closing did not occur, TGE created this problem when it refused to perform under the PSA,” the filing read. “Upon the court’s entry of the sale orders on March 26, 2026 … and the title company’s confirmation that it would insure title … the closing conditions were satisfied and TGE was required to close.”

The Travis County legal dispute began when TGE initially filed for and received a temporary restraining order and injunction order on March 31, the day the sales were set to close. But Travis County Judge Jan Soifer dissolved those orders on April 6.

TGE again filed for temporary injunction on May 14. Soifer denied that request in a June 15 order, and on June 16 issued an order dismissing with prejudice any of TGE’s pending claims as of April 23 with prejudice, though some claims still remain active.

TGE has not disputed the June 16 order. But, on July 10, TGE filed a motion to appeal the June 15 order denying temporary injunction with the Texas Third Court of Appeals. With that motion, TGE requested a temporary order staying the sale of property to another buyer in order to preserve TGE’s rights to purchase.

The receivership opposed that motion, but a court decision has not yet been made.

On July 7, the receivership filed a motion for summary judgement in Travis County for all of TGE’s remaining claims. According to the receivership’s motion, those claims include:

The sale orders became null and void when closing did not occur on March 31.
There was no final sale order because the sale orders were not final.
TGE has no standing to object to the sale orders.
Closing conditions were never satisfied.

A hearing will be held on that motion on Aug. 27, meaning TGE is still fighting to retain its rights to purchase the sites in both Travis County and a court of appeals.

[The ATX]

Austin's 2025 CBD zoning changes have limited the height to both this and 3rd & Congress to 750' with development bonuses. The developer TGE was planning ~950' towers at both locations. TGE is still battling WCC in court for ownership of both sites. The towers have been redesigned to the 750' limit.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Anyone have access to the full article? HBJ has a new rendering.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/...ate-someraroad-world-class-holdings.html

Can't get any idea of the scale of the towers from the renderings posted with the article - unfortunately. They were created by STG Design, however.