Downtown Austin office building sells for $26M

​AUSTIN – Property insurance company Hippo has purchased the downtown building it has leased for more than two years.

Subsidiary Spinnaker Insurance Company paid about $26 million in cash for the four-story building at 701 E. Fifth St., or Waterloo Central. According to county records, the building has​ about 48,000 total sf.

The seller was Elevate Sabine Investors LP, affiliated with developer Elevate Growth Partners.

In addition to Elevate Growth, other companies involved with Waterloo included Runa Workshop as design architect, WGI as civil engineer, and Flintco as general contractor, with help on the interiors by Dana Design Studio.

Hippo said the building “will be used as office space for employees of the company and affiliated companies."

The building sale stands out at a time when many companies are looking to shrink their office space or rethink how they use it in an era of hybrid work. ​