Hobby Building in downtown Austin up for sale

The for sale sign officially went up at the Hobby State Office Building in downtown Austin. The announcement comes with the condition that the new development there will include affordable housing for government employees.

AUSTIN, Texas - The for sale sign officially went up at the Hobby State Office Building in downtown Austin. The announcement comes with the condition that the new development there will include affordable housing for government employees.

The Hobby State Office Building has been closed off for several months. The state agencies once there were relocated, some into new buildings north of the State Capitol.

Tuesday, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham put up a for sale sign.

"This is a premier-mixed use vertical redevelopment site in the heart of downtown Austin," said Buckingham.

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The Hobby State Office Building was built back in 1984. It’s now surrounded by new high-rise development, which has made this one-time landmark between 3rd and 4th Streets easy to miss. Purchasing the entire downtown block comes with conditions.

"I am looking for a visionary proposal to bring substantial workforce housing with childcare to this site," said Buckingham.

Buckingham made the stipulation for affordable housing with several government employees standing next to her and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson.

"It's huge. There are people, people who keep trying to move out of town because it's just not affordable to live in Austin anymore," said Nancy Sisk, a nurse who works downtown.

For more than a decade, city leaders have promised to make housing more affordable, only to see prices in Austin skyrocket. Sisk believes the idea is still possible.

"It can. Of course, it can. Will it? You know, it's the last thing to lose is hope. I mean, I don't know what to say. I mean, I have to hope that it will," said Sisk.

The Hobby building, over the past few years, has been infested with rats and bugs that fall out of ceiling tiles. Repairs estimates were at almost $50 million which prompted the decision by state lawmakers in 2019 to sell it.

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SB 1349 was filed by then State Sen. Kirk Watson. The legislation was sponsored in the House by State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, and after, the passage was quickly signed by Governor Greg Abbott.

As part of the legislation, the property cannot be sold for "less than the property's fair market value, which is to be established by an independent appraisal obtained by the asset management division of the General Land Office (GLO)."

Offers to buy, and redevelop the site are on the clock. They must be submitted within the next 90 days. The state wants developers to be creative. They don't want a reflection of what's already been built here in Austin. That's why they're not saying how many affordable units they want or how much they should cost.

"So you can't jump to conclusions about what actually might come out of it. But the goal is to get workforce housing out of this development, something that would be very unique and something that frankly, most people didn't think would happen when the Hobby building was redone," said Mayor Kirk Watson.

The sales pitch from Buckingham did come with a warning.

"Now, some developers may not hear me or think that I am not serious if we do not get a response matching our goals the first time around, we will put it out for solicitation again," said Buckingham.

Money from the sale is to go to the Permanent School Fund which is managed by the Texas General Land Office. The final decision on any offer will be made by the 5 members of the School Land Board, which includes Commissioner Buckingham.