JLL announced that Tricentis, a leader in test automation, has signed a lease to occupy 42,019 square feet of office space within the newly completed second phase of Uplands Corporate Center. This office marks the company’s first location in Austin. 

Russell Young of JLL represented the tenant. Kevin Granger and Matt Frizzell of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, Drawbridge Realty. 

Tricentis plans to hire more than 100 employees across such departments as Marketing, Finance, Engineering, and Operations. 

“Over the past few years, the city has seen a rapid influx of technology companies making their mark on Austin,” said JLL Managing Director Russell Young. According to JLL’s Q4 2021 Austin Office Insight, Austin’s office environment ended the year with 700,999 square feet of positive absorption. Looking forward to 2022, vacancy is expected to decrease as leasing activity has increased each quarter since Q3 2020. In turn, average asking rents have started to climb, reflecting the optimistic outlook for Austin’s office market.

Buoyed by expected job growth of 5.6 percent, Austin reigns as the country’s No. 1 office market for 2022, according to a new report.

The report, published by commercial real estate services provider Marcus & Millichap, cites Austin’s position as a magnet for tech employers as one of the reasons for the bullish outlook regarding this year’s local office market.

Marcus & Millichap anticipates net absorption this year of more than 4 million square feet of office space in the Austin area. That would bring the region’s two-year net absorption total to more than 9 million square feet of office space, Marcus & Millichap says.

Net absorption refers to the amount of square feet that became occupied during a certain period, subtracted by the amount of square feet vacated during that period.

Of course, tech companies are spurring much of this activity. Office tenants in the tech sector are drawn to Austin for several reasons, such as a relatively low cost of doing business, an abundance of skilled workers, and opportunities to collaborate with related businesses, according to the report.

“This trend is not novel for the [Austin] market. However, location preferences are shifting,” the report says. Click to read more at www.austin.culturemap.com.

Cielo Property Group will break ground on a 750,000-square-foot office tower in downtown Austin this summer, according to an email press release from Compass Communications on behalf of the company.

Named Perennial, the 46-story building is the first of two planned high-rises and will house three floors of retail space. It will be located at 208 E. Fourth St., Austin, on the city block east of Frost Bank Tower.

The outdoor space will include a 28-foot waterfall that ends in a sunken garden and a 30,000-square-foot Sky Garden for residents, according to the email.

It is scheduled to be complete in 2025. Click to read more at www.communityimpact.com.

Embrey has closed on the land purchase for Collection at Gruene, marking the first project for the company’s newly launched single-family rental platform.

Embrey’s single-family rental program will consist of one- and two-story homes within a rental community with best-in-class amenities and professional property management. Embrey’s plan includes 126 duplex-style homes, with 252 units.

The deal was financed by PlainsCapital Bank, one of the largest banks in Texas, based in Dallas.

“This is an exciting offering for Embrey that expands our current portfolio of luxury living experiences beyond traditional multifamily residences,” said John Kirk, Managing Director and Executive Vice President of Development for Embrey.

Gruene, a historic area of New Braunfels, sits just off the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio, Texas, in the second-fastest-growing market in the U.S. according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“The single-family rental living experience is highly desired by today’s discretionary renter,” said Jeremy Williams, Senior Vice President of Development for Embrey. “We have a premier location where residents can walk to historic downtown Gruene. The community is easily accessible to both Austin and San Antonio and close to local attractions like the Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort and the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers.” Click to read more at www.prnewswire.com.

Infarm, a network of urban farms founded in Berlin with centers in Asia and Europe, is expanding its footprint within the U.S. with a new facility in Kyle. This will be the second facility in the U.S. with the first located in Seattle.

Urban farming refers to growing food indoors, in or near heavily populated cities. The goal of Infarm is to minimize risks to the environment and provide pesticide-free food. The facility will be able to provide food 24/7 without any supply chain issues and thereby be more reliable, according to a press release.

To maximize space, the facility will be equipped with vertical farming units standing 33 feet tall and “producing the crop equivalent of land the size of a soccer field, using 95% less water and 95% less land compared to traditional soil-based agriculture.”

With the U.S. playing a significant role in Infarm’s global expansion plans, Texas was strategically chosen to root a new facility that will be able to feed over 18 million people, co-founder and CEO Ere Galonska said in the release. Click to read more at www.communityimpact.com.

JLL Capital Markets secured construction financing for The Travis, a 423-unit, high-rise multi-housing community located in the Rainey Street District of downtown Austin, Texas.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, Genesis Real Estate Group and PGIM Real Estate, to secure a construction loan through JPMorgan Chase.

With a projected completion of the fall 2024, the 50-story tower will be Austin’s tallest single-purpose, for-rent multi-housing high-rise, redefining Austin’s skyline and providing future residents top-tier accommodations and views of downtown and Lady Bird Lake. In addition to luxury residences characterized by technology-enabled living spaces, modern interiors and over one acre of community amenities, the property will offer connectivity to over 14,000 acres of public parks and trails found within the city.

Located at 80 Red River St. within downtown Austin, the property offers convenient accessibility to the growing 17.3 million square feet of office space in the Central Business District, which includes the Convention Center District. Residents are also proximate to Rainey Street, Austin’s historic avenue turned cultural and nightlife attraction. The property provides walkability to over 40 restaurants and bars and shops.

The JLL Capital Markets Team representing the borrower was led by Senior Managing Director Campbell Roche and Senior Managing Director Robert Wooten.