Tishman Speyer, Ryan Cos. Kick Off Austin High-Rise Project

321 West. Rendering courtesy of Neoscape

A partnership between Tishman Speyer and Ryan Cos. has broken ground on 321 West, a 561,000-square-foot mixed-use tower rising 58 stories in Austin’s Central Business District. The high-rise will include office, a residential component, as well as retail space and several levels of parking. The development team includes Handel Architects, in cooperation with Page and INC Architecture & Design.

The codevelopers secured a $188.3 million loan for the project, originated by Forethought Life Insurance Co., Travis County records show. The tower is expected to come online in late 2024.

The tower is Tishman Speyer’s first ground-up development in Austin as well as the company’s second major investment in the city. Tishman Speyer entered the metro last February, with the acquisition of The Foundry I & II, an office asset encompassing 240,000 square feet.

321 West Groundbreaking Ceremony with Teams from Tishman Speyer and Ryan Cos. Image courtesy of Kat Harris Photography

From plans to construction

While in late 2019 Ryan Cos. and BBVA USA announced plans for a 770-foot-high tower totaling 530,371 square feet, plans and partnerships have shifted since then. The current tower rising at 321 W. Sixth St. kept its multi-use aspect and will encompass a 140,000-square-foot office segment that will occupy seven stories, between floors 12 and 18.

The high-rise will also include 369 residential units spanning floors 22 to 54, with a sky-lounge and terrace taking shape on the 55th floor along with a 1,000-square-foot ground-level retail space. The high-rise will feature 440 parking spaces occupying levels two to 11.

A strong, expanding office market

In the first month of 2022, metro Austin office vacancy dropped to 16.3 percent, slightly above the 15.7 percent U.S. figure, according to CommercialEdge data. Austin leads the U.S. when it comes to construction activity relative to existing stock. As of January, the market had more than 9 million square feet of office projects underway, representing 10.3 percent of the overall inventory, more than four times the 2.2 percent national rate, according to the same source.

Ryan Cos. has a 10-year presence in the metro, with one of the company’s noteworthy projects being the 560,000-square-foot Oracle Waterfront Campus, that later got a 420,000-square-foot addition. The Minneapolis-based developer is also active in other Texas markets, with a mixed-use tower that’s part of a $3 billion project in Plano expected to come online in early 2024.