KBS Lists Downtown Austin High-Rise

KBS is listing its Downtown Austin high-rise at 515 North Congress Avenue for sale.

The 26-story office building sits on the corner of Congress Avenue and Austin’s famous Sixth Street, and at night is lit by the neon glow of the mile-long eclectic mix of upscale restaurants, icehouses and neighborhood bars. It’s a brisk walk away from an old-Austinesque variety of businesses, like Joe Rogan’s Comedy Mothership, Punch Bowl Social, and the Mexic-Arte Museum.

515 North Congress Avenue was built in 1975 and is 82 percent leased, according to the Austin Business Journal. The building spans 267,956 square feet. JLL Capital Markets’ Drew Fuller, Mike McDonald, Jonathan Napper and Ryan Stevens were retained to market the building for sale. There is no set target sale price.

Newport Beach, California-based KBS purchased 515 North Congress Avenue in 2015 for $112.5 million, according to the outlet. The building’s tenants include WebAI, The Boeing Company, and the Austin Business Journal. 515 Congress Avenue was also home to Texas Monthly magazine from 1976 to 1989.

Office buildings in Austin, and around the nation, have struggled to square the work-from-home pandemic shift circle. Market data from CBRE shows that across the Austin metroplex, vacancy rates in the first quarter of 2026 were 24.5 percent, according to the outlet.

Atlanta-based Cousins Properties recently shared plans to sell One Eleven Congress, a nearby 30-story office tower which was appraised at $192 million, and carrying an 84 percent occupancy rate. Cousins bought the nearby Sail Tower for $553 million.

In recent months, the city’s momentum with tech companies and corporate relocations has slowed tremendously, prompting Mayor Kirk Watson to outline a plan to offer further incentives for corporate tenants. Though there have been a few wins for downtown offices. Elon Musk’s xAI recently subleased 112,000 square feet just off the Colorado River front in the old Seaholm Power Plant office building after Athenahealth moved out.

— Hunter Cooke