More skyscrapers for North Austin: Breaking down Broadmoor's first office buildings
The next big piece of the massive Broadmoor redevelopment in Northwest Austin is taking shape.
CBRE Group Inc. has started marketing about 1.5 million square feet of office space for lease at the campus, which is being developed by owner Brandywine Realty Trust. For comparison, that would be about 63% of the size of The Domain, the huge mixed-use community across the street that has nearly 2.4 million rentable square feet, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
The first new office buildings planned for the 66-acre Broadmoor campus will be a roughly 330,000-square-foot mixed-use tower on Block A along Burnet Road across from The Domain, a 550,000-square-foot low-rise building and the campus’ signature 750,000-square-foot tower on Block L across from Charles Schwab’s North Austin campus, according to Brandywine. The last of those buildings would surpass anything currently standing in downtown Austin — the largest office high-rise, Frost Bank Tower, is more than 535,000 square feet.
Depending on market conditions, construction could start in 2020 on the first three office buildings, according to Philadelphia-based Brandywine.
Demand for office space in or near The Domain is strong as most buildings there are nearly 100% leased before construction is completed. Office vacancies at The Domain are at 1.7%, according to CBRE.
On the south end of The Domain, Stonelake Capital Partners recently started construction on what will be the development's tallest office high-rise, the 24-story Domain Tower 2.
“We are developing Broadmoor as a new destination for all Austinites,” Brandywine Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Director Bill Redd said in a statement. “Our goal is to offer current and future corporate users superior, cutting edge office space with every amenity possible close at hand. We are looking forward to working with CBRE to attract these new and expanding companies to this thriving submarket.”
CBRE’s Troy Holme, Katie Ekstrom and Casey Ford will handle leasing and marketing efforts.
Brandywine has been mostly quiet about plans for Broadmoor since first unveiling redevelopment plans last year. But more details have started coming out in recent weeks, including that Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. is handling marketing and sales for a small piece of the campus: a 1.7-acre retail and hospitality site along Burnet Road.
In total, Broadmoor will consist of 3 million square feet of office, 3 million square feet of multifamily, 400,000 square feet of retail, 250,000 square feet of hotels, nine acres of green space and potentially a new MetroRail Red Line station.
Right now, the campus is mostly occupied by IBM Corp. and made up of 1.1 million square feet of office space across seven buildings, plus parking garages and surface parking lots.
The 4.72 acre Block A will include about 300 multifamily units as well as retail space, according to a Broadmoor marketing brochure. Block L is 14.75 acres and will also include a parking garage, the potential rail station and a plaza.
Brandywine (NYSE: BDN) on Sept. 17 submitted a site plan application for a multifamily, mixed-use development on Block A with the city of Austin Development Services Department. The site is currently being used for parking.
Another site plan application for multifamily and a structured parking garage on Block F of the campus was submitted to the Development Services Department on Aug. 30. It’s unclear where Block F is located on the Broadmoor campus but the site plan application said the 5.07-acre site is currently used for parking and offices.
A preliminary plan for the entire Broadmoor project filed June 27 with Development Services divides the campus into blocks for the future development. It shows 2,996 apartment units are planned. That plan is still under review by city staff.
By Erin Edgemon
Austin Business Journal