Office tower would feature new home for AMOA
The Austin Museum of Art may soon be a step closer to realizing its decade-old dream of a new home.
Sources say AMOA is close to inking a deal with Hines Interests LP of Houston to develop the downtown block south of Republic Square Park owned by the museum.
The towering project would likely feature about 400,000 square feet of office space, with about 40,000 square feet of that set aside for the museum’s new digs. It’s unclear whether or not the project would include a residential component as a previous incarnation did. But, if realized, it would be the first new office property in downtown Austin in four years since the opening of the Frost Bank Tower.
AMOA, which has a total of 35 employees, has been housed on the ground floor of 823 Congress since 1995.
Museum officials declined to comment on any pending deals with a developer and say the museum is still exploring all options. Sources say the deal with Hines could be announced as soon as early next week.
A spokesperson for Hines says the company "has nothing to announce at this time."
Hines has developed more than 215 million square feet of space over its 50-year history, and re-entered the Austin market last June with the purchase of the 301 Congress building downtown. The company has built properties internationally in a number of arenas, from office to education. According to Hines’ Web site, one of the firm’s specialties is arts and cultural facilities; the company has fielded projects as diverse as the Wortham Theater Center in Houston and the renovation of Postal Square in Washington, D.C., which now includes the National Postal Museum and nearly 1 million square feet of office space paydayloan.
In August 2006, AMOA said it was planning to partner with local developer Tom Stacy on the creation of condo tower and new museum on the site south of Republic Square bounded by Third, Guadalupe, San Antonio and Fourth streets. But that deal never materialized. The museum has sought a new home since the late 1990s, going so far as to launch a $65 million fundraising campaign for a new home off Fifth Street about eight years ago. The museum ultimately had to taper its wishes — and even cut staff — when the economy went south after the dot-com bubble burst.
If Hines and AMOA do partner on the project, sources say it would likely be more than a year before site planning, permitting and other steps were completed, paving the way for construction to begin.
Approximately 290,000 people visited AMOA last year at its downtown location and its Laguna Gloria facility on Lake Austin. The museum reports a $4.1 million operating budget for fiscal year 2008. AMOA anticipates spending 41 percent of that budget on programs, with another 41 percent going to administration and the remaining 17 percent to fundraising.