Austin City Council has cleared the runway for a major reboot of the former Teacher Retirement System of Texas headquarters downtown, approving a rezoning for the four‑acre block at 1000 Red River Street on Dec. 11, 2025. The move pulls together a patchwork of commercial and multifamily rules into one Downtown Mixed Use (DMU) designation, giving the block a single playbook for office, residential, commercial, and life‑science projects.
Per the City of Austin agenda, the rezoning was filed as case C14‑2024‑0160 and adopted at the Dec. 11 council meeting. City documents put the tract at roughly 4.01 acres and describe it as a full downtown block bounded by Red River, E. 10th, Trinity, and E. 11th streets.
What the rezoning allows
City planning staff backed the unified DMU zoning to “support compact and connected growth,” noting that the district allows a mix of office, retail, multifamily, and life‑science uses under one zoning umbrella. The City of Austin staff report also highlights the site’s quick access to transit and its proximity to Waterloo Park as reasons a single designation makes sense for the area.
Background: TRS and the block
The 1000 Red River property served as the long‑time headquarters for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas before TRS sold the campus in October 2022. In an Oct. 4, 2022, press release, TRS said it closed the sale for $108 million as part of its move to a new Mueller campus, adding that proceeds from the deal would help fund construction of the new headquarters.
What’s next for the block
With DMU zoning in place, the property’s owner now has clearer entitlements and more flexibility to pursue large‑scale redevelopment. Local coverage has already pointed to life‑science and mixed‑use projects as strong contenders for the site. As reported by the Austin Business Journal, the change wipes out earlier zoning inconsistencies, and industry reporting notes that buyers often look for this kind of footprint for lab or campus‑style projects (The Real Deal). Rezoning, however, is just an entitlement step, and any project will still need site‑plan approvals and building permits before construction can start.
Neighbors and cultural stakeholders weighed in during the public process, and city staff emphasized workforce‑housing and connectivity goals in their recommendation. With zoning now consolidated on the block, expect site‑plan filings, developer proposals, and public hearings to begin surfacing in the coming months as the next chapter of this Red River property takes shape.
