Texas’ tallest building underway in downtown Austin

Texas’ tallest tower — and Austin’s first “supertall” — is rising in the state’s capital city.

The mixed-use building, called 98 Red River, is underway at the corner of East Cesar Chavez and Red River streets, local real-estate blog Towers reported. Plans for the 2.3 million-square-foot skyscraper include a 240-unit hotel, 700,000 square feet of office space, 332 residences and 43,000 square feet of retail.

The building will be more than 70 stories tall and rise to a height between 1,022 and 1,034 feet. That qualifies it as a “supertall” — a building taller than 984 feet, as defined by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

98 Red River (LinkedIn)

It won’t be Texas’ first supertall, but it will be its tallest building. Statewide, that list is dominated by Houston, which has the tallest and second-tallest: I.M. Pei’s JPMorgan Chase Tower, nee Texas Commerce Tower; and Wells Fargo Plaza, 1,002 feet sans radio tower, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as Allied Bank Plaza, 992 feet. Dallas’ Bank of America, at 921 feet, is the third tallest in the state.

Austin has some catching up to do, although new, tall buildings are transforming the skyline rapidly. The Independent (690 feet) is the city’s tallest. Sixth and Guadalupe, planned for 874 feet and under construction, will replace it as tallest in the city until 98 Red River is finished.

While the tallest buildings in the world are not in the United States, some of the country’s tallest (New York’s One World Trade Center, 1,776; Chicago’s Willis Tower, 1,451) would still tower over 98 Red River. The world’s tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, at 2,716.5 feet.

The Austin building will join a cluster of new and under-construction skyscrapers in the Rainey Street Historic District downtown, including the Travis, 80 Red River, the Modern Austin condos, and 80 Rainey. The 750-foot-tall Conrad Residences Austin and Conrad Austin hotel will be built nearby.

Lincoln Property Company’s Tim Byrne and Kairoi Residential’s Michael Lynd (The Org, Kairoi Residential)

Texas-based Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential are the developers for 98 Red RIver. New York’s Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Dallas design studio HKS are the architects; Austin’s WGI is the civil engineer and local firms TBG Partners and Nudge Design are in charge of landscape architecture and urban design.

[Towers] — Cindy Widner

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