Major developers find mass timber buildings lease faster

Leasing speed as a market signal

John Mooz, Senior Managing Director at Hines, pointed to the 100,000 sq ft T3 ATX Eastside office and residential building in Austin. A few months after completion it was 47 percent leased, in a city with one of the highest office vacancy rates in the country, at rents on a par with new prime buildings. Under its T3 programme, Hines has built or is building 27 mass timber projects worldwide. According to Mooz, the cost premium over conventional buildings is now 5 to 10 percent and still falling.

The velocity of the leasing is the market speaking to us.

A case study outside the city centre

Howard Hughes is building the 49,000 sq ft One Bridgeland Green office in Cypress, Texas. It was 80 percent leased ahead of completion, with the company itself taking a fifth. Development manager Riddhi Doshi plans to evaluate it as a case study, covering construction time and tenant satisfaction among other things. Michael Waddell of Gensler put the emissions saving against concrete and steel at around 30 percent, and up to 70 percent when the carbon held in the timber is counted. The panel named insurance and perceptions of fire risk as hurdles.

How Timber Carbon sees it

Faster leasing and a shrinking cost premium improve the business case for timber buildings. Timber Carbon, launched in 2026 as a spin-off of Timber Finance, quantifies, certifies and monetises the carbon removed in mass timber buildings as carbon removal credits on the voluntary carbon market. Our Build biobased page explains how developers can get started. Another US example is the planned timber tower in Milwaukee.