Private developers will get a shot later this summer at a piece of land in downtown Austin that could hold another office tower.

After years of speculation about what a congestion fix for I-35 might look like, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced on June 15 that it plans to add lanes on the upper deck of the highway and depress I-35’s main lanes through downtown Austin, among other changes.

The project began accepting reservations June 5, and within a week, 336 units were reserved, setting a new record for most number of units reserved in a one-week time period in downtown Austin.

Construction started last November on Rowling Hall, the University of Texas’ new 458,000-square-foot graduate business building. The site is located on the corner of MLK Jr. Blvd. and Guadalupe Street.

The state of Texas wants to build two new office towers in downtown Austin, reports the Austin American-Statesman.

A surge of medical services have opened in Cedar Park and Leander, with at least 21 new health care practices and facilities opening in the area and additional developments planned to open in late 2015 and early 2016.

Technology, demand and right-sizing are revolutionizing traditional office from every angle. NAIOP’s O.CON: The Office Conference, held June 24-25 in Houston, leads the conversation on what’s driving the future of office.

Though it reveals little, Toyota has released a teaser image of the company’s new corporate headquarters in Plano.

To find promising, perhaps underserved, markets for multi-family, you sometimes need to look only a short distance from hot, often overbuilt markets, according to Steve Sorensen, associate director of analytics for Yardi Matrix. Those hot markets, he said, receive a lot of media attention, which might make the industry a little myopic and encourage over-development.

Shifting tenant improvements, behavioral health and environmental-conservation trends are just a few areas where the healthcare real estate realm is changing, NAI Capital’s SVP and director of healthcare services Sonya Dopp-Grech tells GlobeSt.com. We spoke exclusively with Dopp-Grech after she attended a recent healthcare real estate conference in Orange County to find out the latest trends in the field.

Owners of real property rely on "as-is" and "independent investigation" clauses in their real estate contracts and leases to shield them from litigation over mistaken or misinterpreted statements made in the course of negotiations. However, recent court decisions have called into question the effectiveness of these provisions, giving buyers and tenants an unexpected new weapon in contract litigation. Property owners should tread cautiously from the beginning of negotiations to minimize litigation risk.

Commercial real estate industry watchers see plenty of emerging and growing trends in Southeast markets, from collaborative officing to affordable multifamily to live-work projects. Mixed-use remains a hot trend but another "M" word—Millennials—is demanding even more attention from developers across diverse property types.

Real estate agents across the country have been waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to release guidelines permitting the use of drones for commercial purposes, such as marketing real estate. The FAA recently released its proposed rules, which would allow real estate professionals to use drones to aid their clients in marketing and selling properties.

Thursday, June 5
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Brew Exchange
706 W. 6th Street

Wednesday, August 12
8:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

JW Marriot
110 E. 2nd Street