LBJ’s Daughter Shops Downtown Austin Penthouse

A piece of presidential lineage is quietly hitting the Austin leasing market.

Luci Baines Johnson, the daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, placed her former two-story penthouse in downtown Austin’s Norwood Tower up for lease, opening the door for a wide range of potential uses — from restaurant and hospitality concepts to office or residential space, the Austin Business Journal reported.

The 10,421-square-foot penthouse spans the 14th and 15th floors of the historic structure at 117 West Seventh Street, a 1929 landmark that once stood as Austin’s tallest building outside of the Texas Capitol. The Johnson family purchased the building in 1997, and later converted the top floors from office space into a private home.

Austin-based ECR brokers Jason Steinberg and Patrick Ley are marketing the space, which is being pitched less as a traditional lease and more as a flexible canvas for creative users.

“It’s not just a square box where you drop in workstations,” said John Jordan, the Johnson family’s longtime asset manager.

He told the publication that interest has already come from office, hospitality and restaurant groups, though the family is keeping an open mind.

“Whether it continues to be residential or morphs into something different is what we’re taking our time to be thoughtful about,” Jordan said.

The penthouse includes elevator access to both floors, internal stairs to a private gym on the 16th floor and six private terraces. Other features include a small chapel, a full kitchen, on-site parking and direct access to Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille on the ground floor.

Johnson once described the penthouse as her “castle in the sky,” though living downtown was not the original plan. After buying Norwood Tower, the family intended to house its business operations there.

“How can we ask other people to come downtown if we’re living out in Westlake?” Johnson recalled asking herself. That question ultimately drove the decision to renovate the top floors into a home.

That decision proved prescient as Austin’s urban core took off. During her time there, Johnson said the building felt anything but lonely, serving as a hub for family offices, political gatherings, charitable events and personal milestones.

Now living at the Four Seasons Residences along Lady Bird Lake, Johnson said she hopes the next chapter for the Norwood Tower penthouse carries a similar civic-minded spirit.

“These are challenging times for development in Austin,” she said. “But whoever comes there, I hope they’ll treasure being a chapter of Austin’s history.”

— Eric Weilbacher