SPI Insights

The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) board of trustees on September 17 authorized the purchase of a new headquarters at the Mueller Business District in Austin, pending final negotiations.

TRS, which manages a pension trust fund of nearly $200 billion, estimates the move will save it up to $15 million over the next 20 years by getting out of leased space in downtown Austin and by avoiding costly renovations on the existing 47-year-old headquarters on Red River.

The agency currently has a two-year renewal lease at 816 Congress Ave. where its Investment Management Division (IMD) has been housed since 2009. The lease is $5 million a year. If the IMD remains in leased space after March 2023, annual lease costs are projected to rise to $7 million annually.

TRS has no further lease obligations as a result of the June sale of the new Indeed Tower in downtown Austin.

It is estimated that the purchase of two buildings designated as Alpha and Bravo with office space totaling 450,000 square feet will cost between $250 million and $300 million. The cost will be partially offset by the proposed sale of TRS’ current headquarters that could net TRS between $80 million to $100 million.

According to a timeline presented to the board, the agency will place the Red River campus on the market in late 2021 or early 2022, start construction on the Bravo building in winter 2022, begin moving selected divisions to the Alpha building in spring 2023, and move the remainder of operations into the Bravo building in 2024.