Intel Puts 36K sf on Austin’s Sublease Market

Another tech company in Austin is looking to slash its local footprint, prolonging a trend that contributed to record-high office vacancy of nearly 20 percent last year.

California-based chipmaker Intel has put 36,000 square feet up for sublease at 1300 South MoPac Expressway, which is part of its regional campus in Southwest Austin’s Barton Creek area, the Austin Business Journal reported.

Intel bought the property for $39.8 million in 2010 and sold it last year to an LLC with ties to New York-based investment firm Blue Owl Capital. The 424,300-square-foot property reportedly sold for $111 million, over $260 per square foot, marking the largest office sale of last year, according to commercial real estate firm Aquila Commercial.

It is unclear how much of the building Intel occupies. Despite reducing its real estate footprint, Intel’s local employee count has steadily increased to 2,200, up from 1,500 in 2017, the outlet reported.

The sublease offering includes furnished office space. Lease rates were not specified in the marketing brochure, although sublease terms are flexible.

The property was appraised at $90.3 million for tax purposes last year.

Intel’s sublease offering aligns with a broader trend among Austin companies seeking subtenants, a move primarily driven by persisting remote-work trends that were triggered by the pandemic. The amount of sublease space in Austin has slightly decreased from its peak last year, but about 5.4 million square feet remains on the market, according to industry experts.

Other tech companies, such as Meta, TikTok and Atmosphere, have also unloaded office space onto Austin’s sublease market.

The surplus of available office space extends beyond Austin. Nationwide, there were roughly 262 million square feet of sublease space, compared to 144 million square feet during the Great Recession, according to CoStar Risk Analytics.

—Quinn Donoghue