Jun 20, 2017
Construction cranes migrate to Austin’s boom
AUSTIN – The state bird of Texas is the (construction) crane, or so the old joke goes.Currently, there are about a dozen of them at work in downtown Austin. The building...
AUSTIN – The state bird of Texas is the (construction) crane, or so the old joke goes.
Currently, there are about a dozen of them at work in downtown Austin. 
The building boom has helped put thousands of people to work, according to the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Regionwide, construction and related industries accounted for 59,000 jobs in 2016, chamber figures show.
That’s a 38 percent increase since 2012, when there were 42,700 construction jobs.
Aside from the Fairmont, some of the other high-rises under construction downtown include:
- The Independent, 58-story condo tower, West Third St. and West Ave.
- Fifth & West Residences, 39-story condo tower, West Fifth St. and West Ave.
- Aloft/Element hotels, 32-story hotel tower, East Seventh St. and Congress Ave.
- Austin Proper, 32-story hotel and condo tower, West Second and Nueces Streets
- 500 West 2nd, 29-story office tower, West Second and San Antonio Streets
- Third+Shoal, 29-story office tower, Nueces and West Third Streets
- Hotel Zaza, 24-story hotel and apartment tower, West Fourth and Guadalupe Streets
- New University of Texas System headquarters, 19-story office tower, West Seventh and Lavaca Streets
- Shoal Creek Walk, 15-story office tower, West Sixth and Bowie Streets
While the bulk of the activity is downtown, there’s also plenty of construction—and the accompanying cranes—on the UT campus and at The Domain, where Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group is building multiple new office towers.
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