Kendra Scott to anchor Austin’s Lamar Central project

AUSTIN – Kendra Scott Design, a locally based jewelry retailer with customers worldwide, has signed on to be the anchor tenant in a new mixed-use project under construction in Central Austin.

Headquarters for the company, which got off to a humble start in founder Kendra Scott’s home in 2002, will move into 43,500 sf — the entire fourth floor — at Lamar Central, 3800 N. Lamar Blvd.

The lease runs for ten years with Kendra Scott Design expected to relocate from its current headquarters at 1400 S. Congress Ave. by the end of 2015, according to Houston-based Highland Resources Inc., Lamar Central’s developer.

Kendra Scott Design currently has about 85 employees in its corporate offices and expects to grow to about 160 workers within the next year.

As part of the deal, Kendra Scott Design will also open a 1,500-sf flagship retail store — the chain’s 37th U.S. location — on the building’s ground floor. The new store will create between 15 and 25 additional jobs.

The Kendra Scott Design lease, Lamar Central’s first, accounts for about a quarter of the space in the four-story, 165,000-sf building, which is on the site of the former Lamar Plaza shopping center at West 38th St. and North Lamar Blvd.