{"id":51249,"date":"2025-08-01T00:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51249\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T00:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:12:09","slug":"waterline-texas-new-tallest-tower-tops-out-in-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51249\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterline, Texas’ new tallest tower, tops out in Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tWaterline<\/a>, the new tallest tower in Texas rising more than 1,000 feet above downtown Austin, has reached its final height nearly three years after the landmark mixed-use project broke ground<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The overview<\/p>\n

The 74-story high-rise from Lincoln Property Co.<\/a> and Kairoi Residential<\/a> sits on a more than 3-acre campus at 98 Red River St., Austin. The project features several separate components:<\/p>\n

352 luxury apartments spanning the top 33 floors703,000 square feet of Class AA office space across 26 floors, including a 14th-floor library, lounge and conference center alongside an outdoor amenity deckA 252-room 1 Hotel<\/a>\u2014the sustainability-focused SH Hotel & Resorts<\/a> brand\u2014covering 13 floors, including a rooftop pool and bar area24,000 square feet of public retail and restaurant space at the base of the tower\"WaterlineWaterline features a mix of residential, office, hotel and retail space across 74 stories. (Courtesy Lincoln Property Co.)Planning for Waterline began back in 2018, and the project is now expected to be completed in 2026. It will open in phases beginning with the hotel, followed by office and residential space.<\/p>\n

Andy Smith, Lincoln Property Co. senior vice president, said visitors will have access to a neighborhood coffee bar, eatery and other “high end” concepts as well as direct connections to the Waterloo Greenway<\/a> park and trail network along Waller Creek.<\/p>\n

“><\/p>\n

In addition to making its mark on the Austin skyline, Lincoln Executive Vice President Seth Johnston said Waterline will have a “transformational impact” on the southeastern portion of downtown upon its opening next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeamlessly integrated with Waller Creek, Waterloo Greenway and the hike-and-bike trail around Lady Bird Lake, Waterline will quickly become a top downtown destination and activity center. Project improvements will also make it far easier for people to access all of the public amenities in this area from Rainey Street, the new Austin Convention Center<\/a>, and the rest of the Central Business District,” Johnston said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Zooming out<\/p>\n

Waterline’s official topping out will be marked by general contractor DPR Construction Aug. 1, when the tower’s final beam will be lifted into place.\"WaterlineWaterline reaches nearly 200 feet higher than Sixth & Guadalupe, now Austin’s second-tallest tower. (Ben Thompson\/Community Impact)At 1,025 feet, the project is the tallest in both the city and the state, according to Lincoln. The company said Waterline now stands above the JPMorgan Chase Tower<\/a> in Houston, Texas’ tallest building since 1981. It also surpasses Austin’s previous record holder, Lincoln and Kairoi’s 66-story Sixth & Guadalupe<\/a> that opened last year, by more than 180 feet.\"WaterlineWaterline became Texas’ tallest tower at 1,025 feet high, surpassing Houston’s JPMorgan Chase Tower that held the state’s top spot since the early 1980s. (Courtesy Lincoln Property Co.)The approach<\/p>\n

Waterline’s development has taken place alongside work on the second phase<\/a> of the Waterloo Greenway initiative, The Confluence, along Waller Creek between Lady Bird Lake and Fourth Street.<\/p>\n

That project is improving the area with an estimated 200,000 plants and 1,600 trees, plus several new bridges across the waterway\u2014funded with $1 million from Lincoln and Kairoi. One new bridge over the greenway connects with Cesar Chavez Street for more direct access to the redeveloped convention center.\"TheThe Waterline property has several direct connections to the improved Waterloo Greenway, including several new bridge crossings. (Ben Thompson\/Community Impact)Melissa Ayala, the greenway conservancy’s vice president of government relations, said the organization worked with the Waterline team to create a “seamless connection” between the tower and trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaterloo Greenway is a world-class project and a major project for Austin, and we know it\u2019s one of the things that the Waterline team took into consideration when they were choosing their location,” she said. “We\u2019re excited to see the Waterloo Greenway park guests taking advantage of the Waterline retail and amenities, and also Waterline guests taking advantage of Waterloo Greenway\u2019s park system right outside their doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith also credited architect Kohn Pederson Fox<\/a> for designing Waterline with connections to the Waterloo Greenway and dense Rainey Street district.<\/p>\n

“We kind of view ourselves now as the gateway into Rainey. We built a lot of community space. … We put in a bridge. Lincoln put in a bridge straight over to the convention center just to bring that attraction,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Confluence is expected to open to the public next year. The conservancy will then move into the restoration of Palm Park<\/a> off I-35 at Third Street based on recent community engagement<\/a>. The greenway’s final portion, connecting Waterloo Park with The Confluence and Palm Park, will begin development after that project.<\/p>\n

What’s next<\/p>\n

Waterline is nearing completion amid a wave of taller development<\/a> throughout the Rainey Street district, including other high-rise additions like The Modern Austin Residences<\/a>, Paseo<\/a> and The Travis<\/a> next door. The project team will also be responsible for a future addition at the entrance to the district: the planned Waterline Phase 2 across the block on what’s now a surface parking lot at 97 Red River St., Austin. Smith said no firm plans have been set for that future development.<\/p>\n

1 Hotel Austin will open at Waterline next fall. The office floors are now being marketed by Lincoln and expected to open soon after. Kairoi will begin marketing the high-rise apartments ahead their opening next year.<\/p>\n

Lincoln hasn’t signed any office tenants yet, Smith said, and tower space will likely be leased in multistory portions. Most of Waterline’s office floors range from about 23,000-32,500 square feet each.\"Waterline'sWaterline’s official topping out at 1,025 feet will be marked by the project team Aug. 1. (Ben Thompson\/Community Impact)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waterline, the new tallest tower in Texas rising more than 1,000 feet above downtown Austin, has reached its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[39506,228,226,227,6778,229,88,39505,39503,20954,39504,39502],"class_list":{"0":"post-51249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-1-hotels","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-austin","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-hks-architects","16":"tag-kairoi-residential","17":"tag-kohn-pederson-fox","18":"tag-lincoln-property-co","19":"tag-waterline"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}