Bootmaker Tecovas scooted into a headquarters sublease in Austin recently.
The western wear retailer took 30,000 square feet at 901 East Sixth Street, where it plans to move in April, the Austin Business Journal reported. It is a five-year sublease from food-service company Sysco Corporation, a deal negotiated by Jon Wheless and John Gump of CBRE. The rent price wasn’t disclosed.
The five-story building, constructed with timber in 2019, is owned by New York-based Clarion Partners, according to property tax records.
Tecovas outgrew its previous office space and has been operating out of a WeWork since 2022, the outlet said. About 130 people work in the office, and the company employs another 570 retail employees, the outlet said.
The company, led by CEO David Lafitte, raised $56 million in series C funding in 2022, and it opened a 4,000-square-foot flagship store on South Congress the same year.
Tecovas was founded in Austin in 2015 and has grown quickly since then. It did about $1 million in net sales in its first year, and its sales are now in the ballpark of $200 million, the outlet said. Its revenue grew 24 percent last year, although Lafitte declined to disclose exact figures.
It opened eight stores last year and now has 32 locations across the country, with two more on the way this year.
East Austin is home to the headquarters for other trendy brands, including Outdoor Voices and Poppi.
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“We’re seeing companies increasingly focus on sites in East Austin and South Congress, as they’re the only true walkable environments in the urban core, outside of the central business district,” Alex Taghi of real estate firm Franklin Street told the outlet. “Those locations are a better culture fit for companies like Tecovas.”
It’s also more affordable.
Average rental rates in East Austin were about $53 per square foot in the fourth quarter, compared to $65 downtown, according to CBRE.
—Rachel Stone