Suburb goes all in on office

By Justin Sayers – Senior Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal

Mar 9, 2025

At least one city outside of Austin is going all in on office space: Cedar Park.

Cedar Park has several office projects ready to deliver in the next two to three years, including the 300,000-square-foot project Cedar Park Professional Center from Balcones Real Estate Group; a 30,000-square-foot co-working space from Austin-based FUSE Workspace; and what could be in the city’s new downtown area called the Bell District. Riverside also owns more than 200 acres that could be developed into an office campus called Northfork at Cedar Park and has a 63,000-square-foot building permitted for Presidio II.

Rob Shands, partner at Austin-based RedLeaf Properties LLC, which is the master developer of the 54-acre Bell District, said when they first joined forces with the city on the project, office space was expected to be a big piece. But, the plans shifted to prioritize retail and multifamily development because of the pandemic.

Now, he said they’re reevaluating again based on tenant interest and market data – and they could potentially eclipse the planned 170,000 square feet of office space. He said Cedar Park highly desires the product as it’s a key piece toward making the project a “high-quality experience,” as office employees drive lunch business, activity and daytime buzz.

“What we’re working on and trying to do with Bell is really position it as something a little bit different than what the typical suburban office might look like,” he said, referring to smaller buildings, different formats and surface parking. “These traditional suburban office buildings are geared to really accommodate a wide variety of tenants whether it’s traditional office users or flex advanced manufacturing type users. What we’re working toward in Bell is to create that premium Class A office experience that is integrated into that mixed-use district.”

Arthur Jackson, Cedar Park’s Chief Economic Development Officer, said office space is the biggest need for the city of about 78,000 that is just northwest of Austin. He estimated there are 40 or so office-related economic development projects in the works, driven by the presence of Plug and Play, a startup incubator that is aiming to grow companies in the cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries.

“I think companies are also looking at how do we improve our company culture and not have to have our employees sit in an hour, hour-and-a-half commute or more just to get into the office because we want them back,” Jackson said. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting them back, but now let’s figure out, how do we make the most sense of that? And if most of your employers are living in a certain area, maybe Cedar Park, it may make sense for you to do office space here, versus downtown Austin, where it is also cheaper for a lease rate.”

While it may be cheaper than downtown, Shands said cost remains a barrier, as they have to have higher rental rates than historical amounts to mitigate the costs of construction. But he said that they are encouraged by the fact that tenants are willing to pay a premium for quality space.

Jackson said another barrier is just explaining to tenants how they differ from downtown Austin. While they do have interest from some large companies for headquarters relocations, what they will offer is different than a single-tenant high-rise in Austin.

“Anytime I talk to developers who are hesitant in breaking ground speculatively on a building because of the vacancy rates in larger, more dense downtown areas, I have to remind them that this is a different market,” Jackson said. “This is a different product, these are not being designed as high-rise, single-tenant users. These are ones where you’re going to have folks that come in, lease up 10,000, 15,000 square feet at a time.”

Full Article Here: Austin-area office market advances – Austin Business Journal