This site is currently a parking lot. It had previously been occupied by a handful of buildings that were demolished a couple of years ago to make way for a 17-story hotel. That project did not happen however, and has been vacant since.
Jan Buchholz
Staff Writer-
Austin Business Journal
Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. is planning to build a 16-story office building on the southwest corner of West Fifth and Colorado streets in downtown Austin.
The Downtown Austin Blog says the site plan shows it at 20 floors now and exceeding 344 feet. That height seems too tall for a 20-story office building. I'm thinking the actual height is 244 feet and the elevation is showing the ground elevation as "100 feet" instead of 0 which some elevations do sometimes. Still a 244+ foot tall building on that lot will be some nice infill.
This article highlights the sense of urgency by downtown office developers as the office market is showing signs of strengthening. The Colorado Tower, the most significant downtown office tower since the Frost Bank Tower, is now 95% pre-leased. Other notable new downtown office spaces have also been filling quickly before they're even finished.
With food trucks removed, is construction imminent on downtown office tower?
Sep 15, 2014, 12:47pm CDT
Jan Buchholz
Staff Writer-
Austin Business Journal
Over the weekend the downtown Austin food trailers at Fifth and Colorado streets were moved off the concrete pad on the southwest corner, soon expected to turn into a major construction site.
According to records at the city of Austin’s Planning and Development Review Department, city staff is waiting for amendments to the submitted building plan before issuing a construction permit. Bury is the engineer handling those plans.
Nothing special, but it should complement Colorado tower very well.
The best thing about this project is the news that class A downtown office space is getting leased as fast as it becomes available. There should be some major office towers getting announced in the next year or so IMO. The boom in residential and hotel towers has to take a breather at some point considering all the projects in the pipeline. So an office tower boom will keep things going.
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The boom in apartment construction may slow down some, but doesn't exactly need a breather. Austin is still one of the fastest growing metros and economies, and we still haven't adjusted to the pent up demand from the downturn.
We haven't had much new delivered units in condo developments, and I expect actually a pick up over the next few years in those projects.
Hotel developments are probably overextended. A few of the current projects will get built, but after that we're almost certainly in for five to eight years of no large scale construction in that area.
Office development is definitely going to pick back up, and I agree that major projects are likely to be put in the works given the growing economy and pent up demand.
Smaller commercial/retail developments are the other type of development, and I expect continued growth as a part of mixed-used projects and the occasional stand alone retail project.
The wild card is the new medical district. I hope we get some major medical office developments around the new medical area as the university picks up speed.
The site plan was approved and released recently, and it shows the building elevations. The height shown is 242 feet with 18 floors. That's to the top of the mechanical penthouse. It's 27 feet shorter than the original height we saw. Apparently they reduced it from 19 floors to 18 floors and adjusted the garage levels.
Watch the start of construction at 5th+Colorado Tower (Video)
Oct 2, 2014, 7:56am CDT
Michael Theis
Digital Editor-
Austin Business Journal
Construction on Lincoln Property Co.'s 5th+Colorado Tower in downtown Austin started in earnest on Wednesday, as promised by developers in late September, with heavy construction equipment on the scene to prepare the site for construction, seen in the time-lapse video above.
Eventually, as ABJ reporter Jan Buchholz has been tracking, an 18-story, glass and metal cube will rise in its place, scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2016.