Fresh Off an Expansion, MetCenter Has Increased Tenant Demand

AUSTIN, TX—The two newest additions have been completed on the 550-acre class-A mixed-use business park, MetCenter, according to JLL. Buildings A and B now offer 72,000 square feet and 68,000 square feet of new creative office space, respectively. The two buildings are part of a new five-building creative campus within MetCenter Phase II.

Mohr Capital, a Dallas-based real estate investment firm, recently acquired MetCenter from Zydeco Development for $100 million.

JLL is serving as the exclusive leasing advisor on the entire MetCenter project. The brokerage has already found increased demand from office tenants. Office users at MetCenter include Arrive Logistics, PHRG, Ascension and Kapsch.

“Zydeco Development has designed a truly unique office product in MetCreative, which continues to meet the evolving demand of prospective office tenants looking to grow or establish themselves in one of the most vibrant markets in the country,” said Brent Powdrill, senior vice president, JLL. “MetCenter sets the standard of what office users should expect–a collaborative and amenity-rich environment that cultivates creativity and employee engagement to attract and retain the nation’s top talent for the industry-leading companies. With close proximity to Austin’s central core and Austin Bergstrom International Airport, the delivery of these two new creative office assets will expand the diverse tenant roster of MetCenter.”

MetCenter provides access to Austin’s least congested roadways including Highway 71, Highway 183’s new 12-lane expansion and State Highway 130. The property is also less than five miles from downtown Austin via Riverside Drive and across the street from Austin–Bergstrom International Airport.

Buildings A and B each offer dense parking capabilities, zero add-on factor and outdoor amenities including covered seating with food trucks, bocce ball, ping pong tables and interactive landscapes. Additional amenities across the campus include local staple Austin Java at MetCenter, a food truck court for tenants and the community surrounding with online ordering capabilities, a covered dining pavilion, a disc golf course, 1.5-mile hike and bike trail, and basketball and tennis courts. MetCenter also offers tenants the ability to access redundant power and fiber infrastructure.

Developers also have plans for a prospective office campus to serve either 670,000 square feet with surface parking or 1.7 million square feet with structured parking. And, JLL’s Powdrill thinks the property is well positioned to attract a large corporate user.

“As Austin continues to expand, MetCenter becomes more and more central,” Powdrill tells GlobeSt.com. “Technology, creative office and life science companies will be and are already beginning their due diligence to develop an office campus at MetCenter. We are approved to build up to 670,000 square feet with surface parking. If we were to build structured parking, we could do up to 1.7 million. With everyone in Texas tied to their cars, parking always has been important and even more important now with tenants becoming denser in their space, and core parking prices in the $175 to $300 per space a month. Tenants are looking to get as much free parking as they can.”

Austin’s office environment has tightened from second quarter to third quarter 2019, according to a JLL office report. Vacancy rates have fallen to 8.7% citywide with key submarkets such as the CBD even tighter at 7.3% vacancy. While Austin’s construction activity remains strong to provide some relief, but of the 5.59 million square feet under construction, approximately 53% is preleased.

For the past few quarters, the decrease in available space was largely attributed to bellwether technology companies leasing significant amounts of space. However, the proportion of leasing activity associated with technology firms has decreased this quarter, the report indicates.