Texas puts pension fund headquarters on market

As downtown Austin gets more crowded and expensive, the Texas state pension fund is poised to bail out and cash in.

In January, the Teacher Retirement System bought a new building in the Mueller planned community five miles from downtown, where it plans to relocate its headquarters. In the meantime, it’s put its longtime home two blocks from the Texas Capitol on the market.

The site has two distinctive, mostly concrete buildings on 3.83 acres that take up the city block at 1000 Red River Street. Its interconnected four-and six-story buildings have 198,972 square feet. It has five stories of underground parking as well as surface parking.

It’s being offered by CBRE, which has rebranded the property the Waterloo Innovation Center, as a redevelopment opportunity—and possibly a “life science conversion” project.

The offering doesn’t come with a price, but TRS has estimated the property could go for $80 million to $100 million. Property tax records, which don’t mean a great deal when it comes to sales (particularly when the property is 100 percent tax exempt, as in this case), show its appraised value for the past several years as $21,693,150.

In any case, the seller is keeping its options open when it comes to the exact nature of the deal. According to the CBRE offering, “TRS envisions development at the Site’s highest and best use and is seeking maximum value for the Site. TRS is interested in proposals that provide the most benefit to the Fund. TRS will consider offers encompassing a fee simple interest. Respondents may also propose other options as long as a fee simple offer is included as well.”

Not so fast, though, visionary buyers: Although it has said it plans to be moved to its new Mueller offices by 2023, TRS wants to lease back the Downtown property for two years after the sale. During that time it will cover operating expenses and allow for initiation of design and permitting for a redevelopment. It’s shooting to have proposals before its board of trustees by September 2022.

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