Winstead Leases 40k SF, Another win for new Austin Building

Winstead just upgraded its Austin digs.

The Dallas-based law firm now occupies more than 40,000 square feet in the Horizon Bank building, at 600 West Fifth Street. Winstead’s lease covers just over two floors of the 145,000-square-foot building, which opened last year.

The 16-story building is located in Austin’s popular west end, near the flagship Whole Foods store, Republic Square Park and a bevy of bars and restaurants.

Prior to the move, Winstead spent 20 years at the Frost Bank Tower, a 525,000-square foot, 33-story building that opened in 2004 at 401 Congress Avenue. It is unclear how much space it leased there.

Horizon Bank occupies 36,000 square feet at 600 West Fifth. The building is also home to Cisco Systems. The San Jose-based company inked a 27,000 square-foot-lease in April.

Texas’ Permanent School Fund Corporation also signed a lease at the tower in 2022, but the deal fell apart when the state budget blocked the organization from using public funds to pay for private facilities. Horizon sued the Texas Senate and House of Representatives over the matter.

Austin’s office market – especially downtown – has struggled with high vacancy as companies navigate remote work norms.

At the end of the first quarter of this year, office vacancy in Austin rose to 19 percent, up from 16.5 percent a year ago, according to a report from Partners.

Rent rates have dipped, too. The average asking rent was $39.74 per square foot at the end of the first quarter, down slightly from $40.84 per square foot the year before.

As a result, the capital’s sublease market has ballooned, as tech companies like Meta and TikTok shed office space. About 5.4 million square feet of office space remains on the sublease market.

Winstead is a corporate law firm known for its real estate law practice. The firm also has officers in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and The Woodlands, as well as New York and Charlotte.