Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential Complete Waterline, Texas' Tallest Tower, Two Months Ahead of Schedule
DPR Construction has completed Waterline, a 74-story mixed-use tower at 98 Red River Street in downtown Austin, co-developed by Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential. The 2.7 million-square-foot project was delivered in 48 months, two months ahead of its planned 50-month schedule, and at 1,025 feet now stands as the tallest building in Texas.
Project Scale and Program
Spanning more than three acres at its base, Waterline integrates five distinct uses into a single vertical structure: 352 residential units occupying the top 33 floors, a 252-room hotel across 13 floors, approximately 703,000 square feet of Class AA office space on 24 floors, and 24,000 square feet of dining and retail. The tower also includes 30 elevators and connects at grade to Waterloo Greenway's 13-acre Confluence, which opened in June.
Construction required more than 6,800 skilled workers, roughly 150 trade partners, and approximately 4.5 million worker hours. About 1,000 workers were on site during peak activity. DPR's crews placed more than 150,000 cubic yards of concrete — enough to fill roughly 46 Olympic-sized swimming pools — and built more than 92 individual sculptural columns, including 15 installed on the roof.
Developer and Contractor Commentary
"This monumental and highly complex project reflects what's possible when an extraordinary team aligns around a shared vision and never loses focus on execution," said Seth Johnston, Executive Vice President of Lincoln Property Company.
DPR Project Executive Brett Bickford credited the firm's self-perform workforce for enabling early delivery. "Waterline pushed every assumption about scale, complexity and coordination," Bickford said. "This was a massive undertaking, and we wouldn't be where we are today without our talented and resilient team of skilled craft professionals and trade partners."
Bryan Kent, DPR's Central Texas Business Unit Leader, added: "Delivering a project of this size, scale, and technical complexity requires trust, collaboration, resilience, and relentless commitment. And to get it done ahead of schedule is almost unheard of."
Financing and Ownership Structure
Blackstone Mortgage Trust provided construction financing for the project, with PSP Investments participating as an equity partner alongside Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential. The construction loan totaled $742.5 million, originated in June 2022 and maturing in June 2027, giving the sponsors a runway to stabilize the asset through lease-up and initial operations.
The project's design team included KPF as design architect, HKS, Inc. as architect of record, Brockette Davis Drake, Inc. as structural engineer, and Alvine & Associates, Inc. as MEPF engineer.
Market Context
Waterline delivers into an Austin office market that remains heavily supplied. Austin office vacancy stood near 25.8% in the second quarter of 2026, underscoring the competitive environment that Waterline's 703,000 square feet of Class AA space will enter. In that context, trophy mixed-use projects have increasingly competed on amenities, urban connectivity, and leasing flexibility rather than price alone — positioning that Waterline's ground-level link to Waterloo Greenway and its vertical mix of uses are designed to support.
The multifamily component faces a market that has been under pressure from elevated supply but is showing signs of stabilization. Austin metro multifamily vacancy was approximately 12.29% in the second quarter of 2026, down roughly 289 basis points year over year, with effective rents near $1,414. Downtown Austin has performed relatively better, with one market report placing downtown vacancy around 14.1% and average rents near $1,780. The broader metro supply pipeline is expected to decline sharply, with roughly 12,000 to 13,000 units scheduled across the metro in 2026, a trend that could support lease-up conditions for Waterline's 352 units.
Lincoln Property Company's combined management and leasing portfolio exceeds 720 million square feet globally. Kairoi Residential has been involved in more than 57,000 units and approximately $2.5 billion in new developments across markets including San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, Charlotte, and Austin. DPR Construction reported $14.1 billion in 2025 revenue and employs roughly 13,500 professionals across its family of companies.
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