Lincoln Property, DivcoWest Greenlight Austin Tower

The Republic. Image courtesy of Neoscape

Lincoln Property Co. and co-developer Phoenix Property Co., along with partner DivcoWest, will break ground later this quarter on The Republic, a 48-story, 833,000-square-foot office tower at 401 W. 4th St. in downtown Austin.

The Wednesday announcement evidently was based on the partners having secured the building’s first major tenant. Neither the identity of the tenant nor the amount of space being preleased has been disclosed.

LPC did not respond to Commercial Property Executive’s request for further information.

The Republic is across from Republic Square Park, where Austin’s downtown grid was established and the first city land lots were sold in 1839. A green public plaza at the building’s main entrance is intended to serve as an extension of the park.

In keeping with that theme, every office floor of The Republic will feature a 750-square-foot private terrace.

Further amenities will include conference rooms, a fitness center and spin room, club room with a lounge and bar, and a 25,000-square-foot shaded outdoor terrace. Ground-level elements include a 20,000-square-foot public plaza, restaurant space and retail.

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Health and wellness features include touchless access technology and enhanced air-filtration systems, in addition to which the building will pursue WELLv2 Core Certification, WELL Health-Safety Rating, LEED Gold Certification and the Austin Energy Green Building Program.

Bike commuters will have access to a private elevator taking them directly to secure storage for nearly 350 bicycles, as well as a locker room and showers.

The design architect is Duda Paine Architects, HKS is the architect of record and sustainability consultant, and TBG Partners is the landscape architect. Harvey-Cleary is the general contractor; WGI the civil engineer; Blum Engineering the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer; and BDD the structural engineer.

“Fits and starts”

A splashy new downtown office tower notwithstanding, the Austin office market “is working its way toward recovery in fits and starts,” according to a first-quarter report from Newmark. This was evidenced by sluggish demand and vacancy remaining stalled at nearly 18 percent.

And despite this, a total of more than 1.6 million square feet got underway in the first quarter, on a metro inventory of 75.2 million square feet.

Still, there is good news, as rental rates rose 7.5 percent year-over-year, to an average of $40.31 per square foot, and sublease inventory fell by 1.1 million square feet. Sublease availability downtown has dropped substantially “as tenants take advantage of discounted space” and as employees return to the office, Newmark reported.