TikTok subleasing six floors in Austin

TikTok is subleasing a large chunk of space downtown, despite its growing team in Austin.

The social media giant has hired JLL to market the top six floors in the 32-story 300 Colorado, adding to a brutal recent stretch for Austin’s office sector, the Austin Business Journal reported. The sublease, totaling 126,400 square feet, is listed at $39 per square foot. Austin’s average asking rent in the first quarter was $64.14 per square foot.

Cousins Properties developed 300 Colorado, built in 2020, in partnership with Riverside Resources and Ironwood Real Estate before acquiring those two firms for $162.5 million in December 2021.

Meanwhile, at another Cousins-owned building downtown, software company Workrise Technologies recently put 47,000 square feet up for sublease at One Eleven Congress, raising the landmark building’s vacancy by about 10 percent.

TikTok never moved into its space at 300 Colorado, a surprise given the company’s steady growth in Austin. As of April 18, it listed 41 job openings in the city, with roles like ethics and compliance analyst, human resources lead and sales manager posted online. TikTok appears to have other downtown office holdings based on social media posts, the outlet said.

Other notable subleases include Meta’s 589,000-square-foot listing at Lincoln Property Company’s Sixth and Guadalupe, posted in November. 

Austin’s office vacancy rate soared to new heights in the first quarter, hovering around 20 percent. More than 5 million square feet of sublease space was available earlier this month, according to Steve Triolet of Partners Real Estate. 

Rising interest rates, lingering effects from the pandemic and fears of a recession finally caught up to Austin as other markets around the nation have dealt with similar struggles in the office sector. 

—Quinn Donoghue