Meta Platforms Spending $3M on Austin Office Buildout

Meta Platforms has plans for some of the 120,000 square feet of downtown Austin office space that it put up for sublease in 2023.

The Facebook and Instagram owner filed plans for a $2.9 million buildout at 300 West 6th Street, the Austin Business Journal reported. The project for 25,000 square feet pencils out to $116 per square foot.

It’s unclear whether the project is intended for Meta’s own use or for a subtenant. The company hasn’t commented. It put the space up for sublease in June 2023 as it shifted toward an emphasis on remote work.

The building is one of three in downtown Austin where Meta holds leases, although its presence is in flux.

The tech giant has yet to occupy the 589,000 square feet it leased in the Sixth and Guadalupe tower, at 400 West 6th Street just across the street, a sublease it put on the market in November 2022. Meta occupies Third + Shoal, at 607 West 3rd Street, about four blocks away, as the anchor tenant.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg adjusted the company’s remote work policy in 2023, calling more employees back to work, with most required to come to the office at least three days a week, but few adjustments to Meta’s Austin real estate plans have been made.

Meta’s effort to reconfigure or backfill office space mirrors broader trends in Austin, where high-profile tech tenants like Google are also facing questions about long-term office plans. Google still hasn’t occupied the 804,000-square-foot Sail Tower, at 601 West 2nd Street, which it leased in 2019.

IBM did the opposite in September, agreeing to assume Meta’s lease for the 320,000-square-foot Domain 12 building in North Austin, with plans to take occupancy in January 2026 and extend the lease through 2040.

Austin’s office vacancy rate hit an all-time high of 22.5 percent in the fourth quarter 2024, according to Colliers. It has the second-biggest office pipeline for this year, behind Boston, with 3.6 million square feet of space under development set to boost office stock by 4 percent, according to CommercialCafe.

— Judah Duke