Offices to replace Music Hall
The 20-year-old facility to be closed, torn down and replaced with a 28-story office tower.
For years, the Austin Music Hall’s location on downtown’s western side, far from all the hubbub of the Warehouse District and East Sixth Street, was considered a liability.
That, plus a reputation for less-than-stellar sound and sightlines, made the venue a hard sell for both bands and concertgoers. In recent years, it has hosted just a handful of shows each month.
Now, ironically, it’s that same location that makes the property such a hot commodity.
Austin-based Cielo Property Group, which has owned the 43,000-square-foot building at 208 Nueces St. for less than a year, said Tuesday it would raze the 20-year-old Austin Music Hall to make way for a 28-story office tower.
The neighborhood is booming, Cielo executives said, thanks to two major redevelopment projects taking place at the former Seaholm power plant and the now-closed Green Water Treatment Plant nearby. Together, they’ll bring hundreds of apartments and condos, as well as office space, hotels, shops and restaurants over the next few years to an area that was once a ghost town.
To date, the total investment in the area tops $2 billion, Cielo said.
“This project has an unbeatable location in the center of an unprecedented wave of downtown redevelopment,” said Troy Holme, senior vice president of brokerage ser-
vices for CBRE, a commercial real estate firm.
The new high-rise will have 349,000 square feet of space, Cielo and its development partner, Tier REIT, said. They declined to reveal the project’s estimated cost.
Events booked at the Austin Music Hall through year’s end will go on as scheduled. Following demolition, construction on the tower is set to begin early next year and is expected to be completed by late 2017.
“We’ve seen first-hand the extremely high demand for office space in downtown Austin, and even with all the new construction there isn’t much space available,” Cielo founding principal Bobby Dillard said. “This building will offer a premier location in what is quickly becoming the heart of downtown, with amazing views and plenty of amenities onsite and within easy walking distance — including the Whole Foods world headquarters, the new Trader Joe’s at Seaholm and dozens of restaurants and bars.”
Those other offie projects include a 29-story tower at the Green Water Treatment Plant site, where Google has leased 200,000 square feet of space. An 18-story tower is going up at West Fifth and Colorado streets, where PlainsCapital Bank will move its Austin headquarters, and another high-rise has been proposed at West Fourth and Colorado streets.
Cielo’s tower will include 10 floors of traditional office space, as well as three floors featuring ceilings that are 28 feet high, allowing for lofts and other types of creative workspaces.
“We are excited to partner with Cielo to develop Class A office space in the heart of downtown Austin,” said Scott Fordham, Tier REIT’s president and CEO. “Austin is one of our key target growth markets, and this rare devel- opment opportunity will expand our existing Austin portfolio.”
On the ground floor, Cielo and Tier REIT said they’re planning retail and restaurant spaces. The building will feature “an above market ratio” of spaces in its parking garage, as well as 300 bike stalls and oversized locker rooms to encourage work- ers to ditch their cars.
“This building will offer unbelievable access by bike to Central Austin given our close proximity to the Roy and Ann Butler Hike and Bike Trail, Shoal Creek Trail and Lance Armstrong Bikeway,” Cielo founding principal Rob Gandy said. “We want to do all we can to help people take advantage of that.”
While the new office tower means the demise of the Austin Music Hall, Cielo said it will retain the name and will search for a smaller site elsewhere in the city where it might be able to open a new music venue.
Cielo took possession of the Austin Music Hall last fall, buying it from Bank of the Ozarks. OmniBank, which was acquired by Bank of the Ozarks, had repossessed the venue in May 2012 after its then-operator, Direct Events, fell behind on repaying a construction loan that had been used to finance renovations.
The property is valued at $9.7 million this year by the Travis Central Appraisal District.