Developers in downtown Austin are always shooting for the stars, at least when it comes to building height. The latest entry in a crowded field is Intracorp Texas, a division of Vancouver’s Intracorp Homes. The developer is partnering with Hilton-owned Conrad to build the residential and hotel tower — which it says will be the tallest of its type in the Texas capital.
Conrad Residences Austin (the condo part) and Conrad Austin (the hotel part) will be 750 feet tall and have 65 stories, making it the tallest residential and hotel tower in the city (unless another hotel-residential high-rise beats it to the punch). Its136 residences, which will have from one to four bedrooms, will be on floors 39 through 65. The Conrad Austin luxury hotel with 330 rooms will be below. More than 10,000 of the tower’s 573,000 square feet will be indoor/outdoor amenity spaces, restaurants and bars.
The whole shebang will be at 311 E. 2nd Street, less than a block from the Austin Convention Center and amid a smattering of midlevel to tall hotel towers including the Fairmont, the Line and two Marriotts. The location makes the Conrad’s hotel element a natural fit, said Brad Stein, president of Intracorp Texas. He also noted that there are “millions of square feet of office space” in the Austin pipeline and predicted that “business travel, convention travel and tourism” are all going to make a comeback in the city—if they haven’t already.
“The hotel market in every city has been impacted over the past couple of years,” Stein said. “But it’s going to bounce back. It already has bounced back in the past few months.”
The project has taken a couple of years to come together, said Stein. It’s still working its way through the city process to be allowed a density bonus, which would allow more square footage.
Texas’ Page is the building’s architect, and Houston-headquartered Rottet is the interior designer. Intracorp is also partnering with Denver-based hospitality company Miller Global on the building. Compass, which reported about $190 million in Austin luxury home sales last year, will be the sales and marketing agent. Tulsa’s Flintco will be the general contractor. Stein expects the project to break ground late this year. Projected project costs have not been released, nor have expected room rates or residential sales prices.
The residences and hotel are Intracorp Texas’ fourth project in Austin. It developed the Third and Shoal office building and 44 East condos downtown and is working on One Oak condos and Congress Lofts at St. Elmo in South Austin.
Intracorp is looking at other developments in Austin, including a rental project, said Stein, though he didn’t disclose details. He said Intracorp expanded to Austin a few years ago because it was looking to do so in a market similar to Vancouver: “Young, active, outdoor-focused, with an urban lifestyle and good population and employment growth.”
“Texas is pro-business in a way that supports condo development,” he added. “From a regulatory perspective, a condo developer’s got a lot of good things here.”
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