With the large number of downtown building projects under construction, planned, or pending, there are not too many open lots awaiting development. Now, an important new site is about to hit the market just a block from the prime 6th & Congress intersection.
The Texas General Land Office is selling it’s now-vacant prototypical 50s building, formerly the Texas Comptrollers office, to raise money for the State’s Permanent School Fund.
The site is located in a prime downtown location on 6th and Colorado street. Free of Capital View Corridor restrictions, the site will most likely be developed as condos, commercial office space, or as a hotel.
According to the Austin Business Journal:
A major downtown tower could soon replace the vacant 1950s building at the corner of Sixth and Colorado streets.
The Texas General Land Office confirms it’s working with CB Richard Ellis Inc. to put the 76,000-square-foot Starr Building and adjacent garage up for sale. A deal has not been signed, but the GLO hopes to contract with CBRE to put the property on the market in the next month.
The GLO acquired the four-story building in 2005 on behalf of the state’s Permanent School Fund for just over $4 million. That same year the building’s last tenant, the Texas Comptroller’s Office, moved out and the property has been unoccupied since.
The GLO staff has determined the best use for the property would be to demolish the building and build a new structure on the site, Press Secretary Jim Suydam says. The GLO will evaluate the purchase proposals it receives and likely choose the one that nets the most money for the school fund. The Permanent School Fund’s board would have to approve the sales agreement.
