From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/28/1028stateoffices.html
STATE OFFICE COMPLEX
State considers huge office complex near Texas 130
Building campus along Texas 130 could send 9,000 workers out of downtown Austin.
By Kate Alexander, Kirk Ladendorf
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
State officials are scouting land along the Texas 130 corridor in eastern Travis County to build a huge office complex that would house thousands of employees of state agencies.
The master-planned campus could save the state money, improve working conditions for about 9,000 employees and put valuable downtown Austin properties on the tax rolls for the city, county and school district, said Edward Johnson, executive director of the Texas Facilities Commission, who has been developing the plan for about 18 months.
Johnson said the state is seeking 250 to 300 acres for what he called "a new company town" with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient facilities and amenities for employees.
"We'll start with a raw piece of land," Johnson said. "All we have is opportunity."
Johnson didn't specify which agencies might be part of the complex, which would take years to complete. The plan would not affect the Capitol or legislative offices.
He said one consideration would be choosing a location that is convenient to the bulk of state employees, with easy access by car and public transportation.
Johnson said any decision would require the approval of the Legislative Budget Board and the governor.
Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said the governor is always interested in opportunities to maximize the efficient use of tax dollars and looks forward to examining the Facilities Commission plan.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst charged the Senate Committee on Government Organization to look at the issue before the 2009 legislative session.
At the committee hearing Monday, Johnson said the state had run out of space for its growing work force. And he laid out the financial arguments for his plan.
The state now spends $30 million a year to lease 2 million square feet of office space in Austin. Instead of paying landlords, the state would be wiser to move some of those agencies out of downtown and invest the money in its own facilities, he said.
It also owns about 6 million square feet of office space in the county — more than 11 times as much as in the Frost Bank Tower — and faces a 10-year tab of $400 million for necessary maintenance and upgrading of some of those buildings.
Voters approved a bond issue last year that would chip away at part of that cost.
He said the state also could sell some of its real estate, including downtown buildings that now house agencies that do not need to be in the central city.
The state's portfolio includes several downtown properties that could be attractive to developers because they are not in the Capitol view corridor and thus are exempt from the height limits that the corridor imposes.
"This is making better use of money being spent and of assets the state already owns," Johnson said.
Johnson didn't name any facilities that might be sold. State-owned properties in Travis County include more than a dozen downtown office buildings plus several parking garages and major agency complexes spread throughout Austin.
State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin , whose district includes many state employees, said at the hearing that his hope is that the project could become a model 21st-century government complex that is energy-efficient and accessible by mass transit. The campus must also provide state employees amenities such as child care facilities, he said.
"This is an opportunity to do it right," he said.
Watson added that any plan must be developed in concert with the state workers whose lives and livelihoods would be affected by the change.
"Be sure that you put together a process that includes these people," he told Johnson at the committee hearing.
The School Land Board has the right of first refusal for all state-owned real estate. It is too early to say whether the board would be interested in buying any of the downtown properties, spokesman Jim Suydam said.
But Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe, head of the Commissioners Court, said the county might be interested in some of the properties.
The state plan would create a major job center along Texas 130, where regional leaders are trying to direct development. It also could ease traffic congestion downtown.
Austin Mayor Will Wynn, who had been briefed on the plan earlier, said the state has an opportunity to affect the region's long-term transportation issues with its choice of a site for the campus.
"I would like to see consideration toward putting that new state campus along one of our existing or future rail corridors and having that campus linked to downtown with passenger rail," Wynn said.
Wynn said the plan could create the chance to rethink the development of a large swath of Austin's urban core.
"Done correctly, this would allow for a reconfiguration and master planning to change the dynamics of downtown for downtown residents, state employees and visitors, UT students and everybody," Wynn said.
The plan "could add to the tax base downtown, and it could add to the success of our growing mixed-use dynamic urban core."
Council Member Brewster McCracken , who learned about the plan Monday, said it has promise if good development sprouts on the downtown properties.
"If it became a ghost town, it would become a negative scenario. It really matters what would go there. That would be a lot of real estate to absorb if it were emptied out," McCracken said.
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston , the chairman of the committee, cautioned that the financial crisis has created a "new dynamic" in terms of the state's ability to sell some of its holdings.
Representatives from some office brokerages declined to comment because they do business with the state.
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I had to do a double take for a minute there. 21Rio and Spring really add something to the skyline in those shots. 
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