The Austin-American Statesman announced in a story Monday that it is requesting developers' ideas for refashioning the Lady Bird Lake property where its current building now sits.
Cox Enterprises, the company that owns the Statesman and had owned the site since 1976, sold the tract to members of the Cox family in December 2015, says the article. The 18.9-acre site is on a prime downtown spot, adjacent to the south side of the lake directly east of the Congress Avenue bridge—Austin's iconic "bat bridge," where thousands gather every summer to observe the world's largest urban bat colony emerge at night.
As the newspaper notes, developers and city planners have long eyed the site as a potential part of crafting a coherent development plan along the lake's 97-acre southern waterfront.
The "request for interest and qualifications," as it is called officially, was issued through the law firm of Richard Suttle, trustee of the land in question and a longtime player in Austin development. The request is the first official indication of the owners' interest in redevelopment, although they told the Statesman that they are in no hurry. The story also says that there are no plans at this time to move the paper's offices.