William P. Hobby, Jr. State Office Building

[3] The complex was originally built for private offices with ground-floor retail but had trouble attracting leases following the late-1980s Savings and Loan Crisis.

[7] Texas State Senator Kirk Watson and Representative Gina Hinojosa proposed a bill to allow the complex to be auctioned off.

[6] In August 2023, the Texas General Land Office and the City of Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announced a plan to redevelop the Hobby complex into workforce housing.

The complex would ideally include a housing resource office, a childcare facility, and retail space.

[1] During a Texas Senate Finance Committee meeting in 2019, then-Senator Kirk Watson said that the complex “is an embarrassment (and) it’s a joke — in any other universe it wouldn’t exist.”[6]

Looking from the corner of W 3rd Street and Guadalupe Street