Drawbridge Inks Long-Term Lease at Austin Office Campus

The tenant will take up space at the second building by the end of the year.

Uplands II is a 124,080-square-foot office building in Southwest Austin.
The tenant will take space at the 124,080-square-foot Uplands II building. Image courtesy of Drawbridge Realty

RBC Wealth Management has signed a 11,710-square-foot, seven-year lease at Uplands Corporate Center, a two-building Class A office campus in the Southwest submarket of Austin, Texas.

The tenant, a division of RBC Capital Markets LLC and part of Royal Bank of Canada, will open its office by the end of this year at the Uplands II building.

Drawbridge Realty is the owner of the 291,448-square-foot property. With the closing of this deal, there are 14,000 square feet of remaining space available for lease.


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Current tenants at Uplands Corporate Center include Tricentis USA Corp., WuXi Clinical, Quisitive, Kimley-Horn and ResearchPoint Global, among others, according to CommercialEdge.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Executive Director Rick Whiteley negotiated on behalf of the tenant, while the company’s Executive Director Matt Frizzell and Executive Managing Director Kevin Granger represented the landlord and are in charge of leasing.

A closer look at the Austin office campus

Drawbridge Realty acquired the 167,368-square-foot Uplands I in 2014 for $42.5 million, from seller CBRE Investment Management, the same source shows. The owner added a second building to the campus in 2021. The 124,080-square-foot project was subject to $33.4 million in construction financing, provided by Bank of America.

Designed by Levy Architects, the Uplands II is the first building in Austin to achieve all three LEED, WELL Compliant Silver Building and RESET Air Standard certifications. The property’s HVAC systems feature UV purifiers and high exchange rates for outside air, allowing for an improved air quality.

Completed between 2007 and 2021, the campus includes five passenger elevators, collaborative lounge with covered and uncovered areas, dining spaces, parking spots and EV charging stations. Both buildings also provide access to an on-site fitness center, adjacent garden and a food truck court with running and walking trails.

Located at 5301 Southwest Parkway, the property is 8 miles from downtown Austin, 13 miles from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and within 33 miles of San Marcos Regional Airport.

Leasing activity in the metro

As of August, Austin’s office vacancy rate clocked in at 27.8 percent, marking a 660-basis-point increase over a 12-month period, according to a recent CommercialEdge report.

Earlier this month, IBM signed a 320,000-square-foot full-building lease at Domain 12 in Austin, owned by Cousins Properties. The tenant is assuming Meta Platforms’ existing commitment at the property, while also extending its commitment to 2040.

In February, Transwestern Real Estate Services landed the leasing assignment of a 521,401-square-foot office portfolio in the metro. The collection, owned by Pacific Oak Capital Advisors, includes eight buildings across three office campuses.

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