The race to build the tallest building in Austin, Texas, took a hit this week as the developers of a proposed 80-floor high-rise in the Texas capital scaled back the plan to 45 floors.
Austin-based Wilson Capital, developers of the initially proposed and 1,035-foot-tall Wilson Tower, confirmed plans to build what would become the tallest building in both Austin and Texas are no longer on the table.
The announcement comes a few months after the city of Austin did not support Wilson Capital’s tallest tower proposal.
“We are making some changes in response to both the Design Commission’s feedback and current market conditions. Construction costs and interest rates are both higher now than they were when we originally designed the project. We believe this new design is more appropriate to provide an activated ground floor while remaining feasible in today’s environment," Wilson Capital President Taylor Wilson said in an email to CoStar News.
All of Wilson Tower would be dedicated to residential units.
Wilson Tower was proposed to be built at 410 E. Fifth St. in downtown Austin. The building's previous plans would have overtaken Waterline as the tallest building in Texas. Waterline is a 74-story, 1,025-foot tower currently being built at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Red River streets in downtown Austin. The building would be the tallest in all of Texas, once completed, eclipsing JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston by 20 feet.
Construction loans, as Wilson mentioned, have indeed been increasingly difficult to secure since the middle of 2022 amid rising interest rates and recessionary fears.
Austin’s skyline has been evolving since 2019, when developers began one-upping each other with tall skyscraper developments. The Independent, a 58-floor and 683-foot residential high-rise in downtown Austin, was completed in 2019 and became the city’s tallest building.
Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. and San Antonio-based Kairoi Residential are wrapping up construction of Sixth and Guadalupe, which has topped out at 66 floors and 875 feet. The building will be Austin’s tallest when it officially opens later this year.
Wilson Capital has not yet broken ground on its proposed 45-floor tower. The project’s architect of record is HKS Architects Inc.