Travis County is accepting proposal bids for the project. I think they said there's 25 of them from architects from all over the world. What it'll come down to is money, and they'll choose the one that best fits what the county needs and can afford.
Well it could be that the county wants to create a masterplan for the block that includes not only the courthouse, but also a private development that would likely be structurally attached. Then they could sell that portion of the property to a private company and let them go through the process of developing and building it. Since there's no height restrictions for that block, a developer wouldn't have to go through the zoning rules and would just stick to the masterplan. Their biggest hurdle then would be securing financing.
Either that or the county is planning to keep the whole block and lease out space in whatever big tower they're planning. Travis County is already a landlord at 700 Lavaca where they share space with a few companies.
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I hope I'm wrong.. but there have been smaller projects with more experience developers not get off the ground in the last few years and our office space market is pretty dismal.
Unless there is a company that is in need of 600K square feet of office that we are all unaware of, I don't see a tower that large happening.
Again, I would love for a 900+ foot tall tower, especially in that area. Just don't see it happening in the near future.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StoOgE
I hope I'm wrong.. but there have been smaller projects with more experience developers not get off the ground in the last few years and our office space market is pretty dismal.
Unless there is a company that is in need of 600K square feet of office that we are all unaware of, I don't see a tower that large happening.
Again, I would love for a 900+ foot tall tower, especially in that area. Just don't see it happening in the near future.
Um... the market for office space in the downtown area isn't dismal at all. Vacancy has actually been dropping consistently.
It's still pretty high right now, though. Citywide the vacancy rate is 19 percent. It's 19.8 percent for Class A space, most of it being in downtown. And while that's still not good, it is the lowest it's been since the 2nd quarter of 2009, according to this:
Um... the market for office space in the downtown area isn't dismal at all. Vacancy has actually been dropping consistently.
20% vacancy is pretty high. The only way there is a market is if there is an employer who is looking for a lot of space and wants everyone in the same location.
I would love to be wrong, but I don't know of anyone looking for that amount of class A space that wouldn't want to build a campus out in the boonies.
According to this ABJ story, Austin's CBD vacancy for office space is at 16.68%, and continues to drop. I would hardly call that dismal.
As a matter of fact, any less vacancy and you're looking at a market in dire need of new construction. Austin has a very healthy office market; with that said I agree we're not likely to see any office construction anywhere of 600,000+ square feet unless a major company is relocating.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Somnio
According to this ABJ story, Austin's CBD vacancy for office space is at 16.68%, and continues to drop. I would hardly call that dismal.
As a matter of fact, any less vacancy and you're looking at a market in dire need of new construction. Austin has a very healthy office market; with that said I agree we're not likely to see any office construction anywhere of 600,000+ square feet unless a major company is relocating.
Yep. Although, I think an increase of 600,000+ isn't out of the question even if a major company weren't relocating. It's unlikely, but not impossible.
Yep. Although, I think an increase of 600,000+ isn't out of the question even if a major company weren't relocating. It's unlikely, but not impossible.
But then again... perhaps if there is talk of building such tower it might lure in some company? You never know... Austin might be in for a big surprise.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by migol24
But then again... perhaps if there is talk of building such tower it might lure in some company? You never know... Austin might be in for a big surprise.
Eh. The days of big (not necessarily well-known, but rather with a large consolidated corporate workforce) headquarters in downtown Austin are over. Office towers here are primarily filled with a mish-mash of medium sized tenants. The primary problem is, perhaps, not the absorption capacity of the market of a large amount of new space, but the absorption capacity of our dismal highway system of the new commuting workforce.
I would not brush off the idea of a major corporate headquarters or offices moving into Downtown Austin. The game has changed and since Formula 1 will be making its home here for awhile that puts Austin right in the spotlight of Hundreds of major companies from around the world. Remember formula 1 is a big deal with CEOs and big business men. During a Formula 1 race week, Austin will be playing host to hundreds of these people all in the same place. I have heard it being called the largest gathering of Corporate heads from around the world in the United States. Unlike New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major cities here, Austin is young and new with a good economy and educated workforce. Think of Austin as a budding 21 year old virgin LOL. I would not be shocked at all in the coming years of a huge company moving here or even bringing its HQ.
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Just look at the recent companies that have relocated to Downtown, some of them decided to actually build a new building rather than having offices spread around in existing vacancies. Fact is, companies want to be Downtown and they are willing to build their own offices to do it. That should say something about the vitality of Downtown's office market.
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My friend was just looking at it a was complaining that it has no windows. I had to mention to her that trying to cool a place in Austin in the summer that has tons of windows is very expensive and not considered sustainable or environmentally friendly building. I hope that lack of windows is not one of the reasons people are disliking some of the newer buildings. That is something that I hope those in cities that get baked by the sun like Austin does, starts to get used to reducing the numbers of windows.
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