[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news....257273.735770

Texas Capitol campus getting two new buildings in expansion plan
Updated: 8:53 p.m. Sunday, June 21, 2015 | Posted: 7:02 p.m. Sunday, June 21, 2015

By Marty Toohey - American-Statesman Staff

Hoping to avoid the skyrocketing Austin rents, the state government is set to start a $1 billion-plus construction effort that would include a pair of new downtown buildings opening by 2020.

The two new downtown buildings would sit along the east side of Congress Avenue. One would be roughly 650,000 square feet, located at 18th Street, across the street from the Bob Bullock State History Museum. The other would be roughly 421,500 square feet, sitting between East 16th and 17th streets. Both structures would be built on what are now parking lots.

The new downtown buildings — the height, shape and look of which won’t be settled until next spring — will be accompanied by a new building at the state government campus in North Austin, near the Triangle mixed-use area at the confluence of Lamar Boulevard, Guadalupe Street and 45th Street. The North Austin campus will host more than half the state’s health and human services operations in Austin, which are scattered around the city in various rented spaces.