Cousins Stone Pushing for 3Q Ground-breaking on CBD Office Tower

AUSTIN-The Cousins Stone Austin Development Office hopes to be pushing dirt in the third quarter on a class A, multi-tenant Downtown office tower that’s on the drawing boards for a 1.7-acre tract at 401 Congress Ave.

Although the site can accommodate up to 750,000 sf, it more realistically will boast a 500,000-sf to 530,000-sf building, Tim Hendricks, senior vice president of the Austin office, tells GlobeSt.com. Hendricks says the project must have 90,000 sf preleased before it can begin. The situation is looking good as talks progress with tenant prospects. Hendricks says the premier space should fetch between $28 and $32 per sf triple net given Austin’s current occupancy and CBD rates.

It is highly unlikely that the plan will be put on a backburner despite current gloom-and-doom economic reports. Entitlements are in place and the tedious task of document processing has begun. Even if tenants are signed, the earliest that the project conceivably could get under way would be June, says Hendricks.