In a city dotted with construction cranes and gleaming, modern high-rises, there is something rare happening at Sixth and Lavaca streets: a century-old former post office is being incorporated into the design of one of downtown Austin's new skyscrapers.
Developer Trammell Crow Co. and brokerage firm CBRE Group Inc. recently provided a sneak peek of the work happening inside the historic Claudia Taylor Johnson Hall, next to the construction site for 36-story Indeed Tower, which is rapidly going vertical.
Many of the original design features of Johnson Hall, which was built in 1914, are being preserved as Indeed Tower general contractor DPR Construction transforms it into a retail and restaurant destination.
The interior of the building has been opened up and the mezzanine level removed to reveal the steel trusses in the ceiling. A massive window in the back of the historic building will be restored and expanded.
“When you were standing (on the mezzanine level), you could actually see Carnegie Steel stamped into these steel trusses,” said Kevin Brooke, an associate at Trammell Crow. “In Austin, Texas everything is so new, you don’t really get these historic buildings that are 100 years old.”
Formerly known as Block 71, Indeed Tower is named after its largest tenant. The job-search company leased the top 10 floors or about 307,000 square feet. The 673,438-square-foot tower is now 65% leased with Brown Advisory and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas also picking up space.
Indeed Tower is expected to deliver to tenants in April 2021.
Principal Real Estate Investors is the equity partner. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo provided construction financing.
A record-breaking 7 million square feet of office space is under construction in Austin, largely in the Central Business District, according to an August report from NAI Partners.
The 33,000-square-foot Johnson building will be transformed into a food and beverage destination, though the exact concept hasn't been determined yet. Conversations are ongoing but an operator hasn’t been signed yet, Brooke said. The ground floor of the building is 14,000 square feet.
“The tenants are the priority of this building, and we want to make sure this is an amenity to them,” he said. “Whether it is a food hall or it's four or five different restaurants, we don’t know what it is going to land at.”
Brooke said the plan is to have the food and beverage options open around the time office tenants move in.
A 17,000-square-foot landscaped plaza will be constructed to the rear of Johnson Hall. It will connect the historic building with about 10,000 square feet of additional retail space on the Seventh Street side of the project.
Next to Johnson Hall, the Indeed Tower lobby will have its own distinctive design — it will be 38 feet tall with glass exterior walls showcasing a signature stairwell along Sixth Street. The eastern wall of Johnson Hall will also become an interior lobby wall.
Troy Holme, Casey Ford and Katie Ekstrom with CBRE Group Inc. are handling leasing at the tower.
Trammell Crow has a long-term ground lease with the Austin-based University of Texas System for the 1.75-acre property. The UT System had used Johnson Hall as office space before moving into a new headquarters tower a block north.
Total rentable s.f.
| Rank | Prior Rank | Property |
|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Frost Bank Tower |
2 | 2 | One Eleven Congress |
3 | 3 | 600 Congress |
