Sale plan could make 'terrible' Hobby state office building a hot property
The 35-year-old William P. Hobby state office building in downtown Austin needs a whopping $50 million in repairs to shore up decrepit plumbing, overhaul electrical systems and patch or replace various other dilapidated components — and that might not even address what some workers there contend is a serious rat infestation.
But it soon could be among the most-sought-after commercial real estate properties in the city.
“There would be a very long line of people” seeking to buy the property if it were for sale, local real estate consultant Charles Heimsath said. “They’d be interested in the (land), not the building — the building is terrible.”
Heimsath’s assessment — that the Hobby building, at 333 Guadalupe St., is in terrible shape but the city block it sits on is extremely valuable — is widely shared by state lawmakers and administrators who oversee state-owned facilities, and they’ve taken initial steps to put the property on the market through a procedure that requires approval of the Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190328/sale-plan-could-make-terrible-hobby-state-office-building-hot-property
I worked in the building. The building looks like it was designed with a Lego kit. I remember that in one of the offices there was a two- foot diameter pole right in he middle of an 8' x 8' room that had an obtuse angle in it. The employee had to sit with his back to the door and it was almost impossible to arrange the furniture.