Downtown Building Boom Still Going Kaboom

Hold on to yer hats, because this downtown construction wave isn’t stopping.

Three new office/commercial development recently submitted plans for small to mid-rise projects downtown. Unlike the wave of preceding projects, which are practically abolishing the parking lots that are converted to stages during SXSW, all three of these are redevelopments of existing buildings.

Development inches closer to Judges Hill District

Back in the day, the northwest area of downtown Austin used to be (waaaay back) the hip spot for judges and attorneys to live. As such, it sort of remained an island, with a buffer of almost no development between it and the rest of downtown over the past half-a-century.

Those days may be ending, if there is money to be made, and a sign of that is a new eight-story office and retail center – called Capitol Commons – planned at northwest corner of 13th and San Antonio. The two small office buildings there now, along with the sidewalk, are going to be demolished in favor of a 50,000-square-foot office and retail project.

It’s unknown when ground will break, but it promises good views of the Capitol when it is finished.

Cirrus Logic scraps research building, switches to office strategy

Cirrus Logic has filed plans to move forward with a three-story, 36,000-square-foot building across from their current headquarters.

The existing site is currently developed with a single story building — where Yoga Vida used to be — and an asphalt parking lot, which will both be demolished and replaced with the proposed development, which will include building out to great Streets standards.

According to the proposal, the first floor will be parking, and the top two will be “office.” This is interesting, because Cirrus Logic initially wanted to have a 79,000-square-foot research facility there, but that got bogged down in zoning and permitting, and appears to have been snuffed out.

New office building next to county courthouse

The Texas Parent-Teacher Association is doing well. While that’s not newsworthy for readers of this blog, the fact that they plan to develop a 20,000-square-foot office building, in addition to a little restaurant space, downtown across from the current Travis County Courthouse is.

The project will go up right next to the parcel that Travis County recently purchased for more office space of its own.

It’s hard to tell if the PTA is simply building out to accommodate additional staff, or if it is seeking to raise funds by building a new building and becoming the landlord for other office dwellers. The addition of resultant space in the site plan indicates the latter.

It’s an interesting play, and one we may see more off as various associations. They may have come to Austin decades ago to lobby lawmakers and have invested in downtown before it made financial sense, but now they can turn a buck and take advantage of the extraordinary demand for office space here.