At 1,025 feet, Waterline will become the tallest tower in Texas when DPR Construction finishes it later this year. But it’s not the biggest story in the Austin-Round Rock construction market.
The bigger story is the volume of work that spreads across the region and the labor tension that comes with it. According to Dodge Data & Analytics, total construction starts in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area reached $20.4 billion in 2025, and starts are projected to increase to $21.8 billion in 2026. “The influx of megaprojects continues to strain the local market from a skilled labor perspective, and general contractors are being innovative and adapting,” says Ken. Texas Central Construction Business Unit Leader.
While fewer cranes may dot the downtown skyline than in years past, Kent says the work hasn’t dried up — it’s been redistributed across the region. Capital programs such as the expansion of Interstate-35 and airport additions, along with major institutional and industrial moves by the University of Texas and Samsung, respectively, have spread activity throughout the metro area.
Data centers have also arrived in Central Texas on a scale that has transformed the region’s construction profile. The facilities call for massive energy infrastructure, precision mechanical and electrical systems, and schedules that expose any gaps in the commercial supply chain. “The list of local and regional megaprojects continues to grow,” says Kent.
This large and technically demanding concentration of work comes from the same finite pool of toolmakers, electricians, concrete finishers, and pipe fitters, all at once.
DPR’s response has been to reduce its reliance on available labor through prefabrication and off-site manufacturing. “The reality is, not everything has to be manufactured here, it can be shipped to central Texas,” Kent says. What was once an option, he adds, “is in many ways becoming standard practice,” providing gains in speed, quality, cost and security. Pre-construction collaboration and self-executing trade work help plan schedules when trades are stretched. So does virtual design and construction. “We are able to create projects virtually to identify early bottlenecks and improve workflow, enabling better sequencing and productivity,” says Kent.
“The list of local and regional megaprojects continues to grow.”
—Bryan Kent, Central Texas Business Unit Leader, DPR Construction
This innovation is appearing across all sectors, and one sector showing strength in the 2025 data may be the least surprising. Institutional starts reached $3.6 billion last year, with healthcare facilities alone jumping to $1.23 billion, more than double the $424 million set for 2024. Major hospital systems are expanding their footprints, and the UT Academic Medical Center project in North Austin is the clearest example of that push.
Downtown tells a different story: one of recovery rather than expansion. The 74-story waterline, with 91 mega-columns averaging 70 cubic meters of concrete each, spread over a 3.25-acre site, is among the most challenging self-executing concrete projects in DPR’s history and is running ahead of schedule. Kent sees it as a marker of what’s coming back to the downtown market. Interest rate movement and the redevelopment of the Austin Convention Center are creating what he calls a “buzz of hope,” with more private projects expected to follow.
Two new regulations are reshaping the operating environment. Texas Senate Bill 840, in effect since September, requires cities to allow mixed-use and multifamily development in commercial zones, prompting Austin to set a 350-foot base height limit in the central business district and overhaul its downtown density bonus program. The city is also creating a life sciences zoning category to support biotech and pharmaceutical users. The South Central Waterfront Combining District, a redevelopment framework for land south of Lady Bird Lake, remains stalled at the city council level, but, in Kent’s words, “could have a massive impact on the built environment of Austin’s CBD.” Permits have improved, although fire and Austin Energy reviews still make Austin’s process the slowest in the region.
Kent’s perspective is simple. “I’m optimistic about where we’re going. I think that because Austin is a well-established tech hub, the city will continue to drive growth in the tech industry, from data centers to semiconductors and other types of advanced manufacturing, and that’s supported by continued growth from a population standpoint, and especially given Austin’s thriving young population.”
