Contractor Buys 7,500-SF Office Building With Union's Move Up

SpawGlass, based in Houston, purchased the 7,500-sf building at 1111 Smith Rd. from a joint venture of the local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association. The purchase price was not disclosed, but the asking price was $750,000, according to Jeff Coddington, a Colliers International broker who represented the seller.

The joint venture used the building as a training center for apprentice electricians. The training center was moved to a 28,000-sf build-to-suit facility at 3920 Caven Rd. in the Mopac Industrial Park in the southeast submarket. The industrial park was developed by Trammell Crow Co. in the mid-1980s.

SpawGlass moves from leased space at 2808 Longhorn Blvd. in the city's north central submarket. The construction company's current Austin-area projects include the Austin Convention Center expansion and the Roy and Joann Cole Mitte Art/Technology/Physics Center at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. The company had previously worked on the convention center and the Texas Capitol expansion.

Coddington, Graham Turney and Charlie Hill, all of the Austin office of Colliers International, negotiated the terms for the seller. Richard Skinner of Ranger Real Estate acted on behalf of SpawGlass.

The building, constructed in 1985, is in the Capitol Business Center just off US Highway 183 and 2.5 miles north of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. It was renovated in 1996 for offices and training operations.

Although the building is just north of the Colorado River, it's considered to be in the northeast submarket. It has one of the lowest vacancy rates in Austin at 7.5%. It's also one of the smallest with 2.2 million sf of office space.