DALLAS -- The University of Texas System plans to consolidate its headquarters in a $102 million building in downtown Austin, where it currently occupies five buildings, officials said.
The plan to construct a 15-story building downtown, originally proposed in December 2012, was recently reconsidered by the UT officials. Budget constraints prevented construction of the building in 2012.
The project will be financed with system revenue bonds, according to Scott Kelley, vice chancellor for business affairs. The bonds will not affect the ability of other campuses to finance their own capital improvement projects, he said.
UT has deferred maintenance on the five buildings that will be affected by the construction of the new office building.
The system headquarters complex includes O. Henry Hall, Claudia Taylor Johnson Hall, Ashbel Smith Hall, the Colorado Building, the Lavaca Building, and the Norwood Tower. Three parking garages serve the complex.
UT plans to lease O. Henry Hall or allow for redevelopment that preserves its historic status, Kelley said.
O. Henry Hall, formerly known as the U.S. Post Office and Federal Building, is an historic building at 601 Colorado St. Designed by architect Abner Cook, it was completed in 1881.
The District Court met there from then until 1936. One of its most noted trials occurred in February 1898, when William Sidney Porter, known by his pen name of O. Henry, was tried and convicted of embezzlement. When UT acquired the building, it renamed it for the author, who had lived nearby in the house that is now the O. Henry Museum.
Studies indicate that consolidating about 550 system employees into one building would save more than $125 million during the next 30 years.
The system, which oversees nine academic and six health campuses, plans to begin construction in late 2014 and to occupy the new building in late 2016 or early 2017.
