Kilroy halts construction on Austin’s Stadium Tower

Construction has come to a grinding halt on the planned Stadium Tower in Austin.

Los Angeles developer Kilroy Realty Corp. said the company is going to wait for the market to stabilize before picking back up with construction, the Austin Business Journal reported.

“We intend to hold off on the construction of Stadium Tower, our Austin development site, until the economy gives us more confidence or we pre-lease a substantial portion of the project,” Kilroy CEO and chairman John Kilroy said in an Oct. 26 earnings call.

Previously dubbed “Arena Tower,” the 2.9-acre lot for what is now known as Stadium Tower is located next to the Q2 Stadium, at 10615 Burnet Road in North Burnet. The project, which calls for a 493,000-square-foot office tower, is now listed on the developer’s future pipeline projects, which are “subject to market conditions.”

“We have a proactive planning process by which we continually evaluate the size, timing, costs and scope of our development and redevelopment programs and, as necessary, scale activity to reflect the economic conditions and the real estate fundamentals that exist in our submarkets,” Kilroy’s Q3 report read. “We expect to execute on our development and redevelopment programs with prudence.”

Kilroy, which also owns the 36-story Indeed Tower office highrise downtown, spent $40 million on the Stadium Tower site when it bought the property from Capella Partners in March 2022. Since pre-construction work had already begun on the site, the lead time needed to complete the building will be reduced, Kilroy said.

“Our operating premise over the past 25 years as a public company is that there are times to buy, times to sell, times to develop and times like now to be patient,” Kilroy said on the call.

— Victoria Pruitt