Now Open: 1 Hotel Austin--a Texas-Sized Urban Retreat
Set within the tallest tower in Texas, the brand's first property in the state brings together nature-led design, destination dining, wellness, and Austin's creative spirit.
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 17, 2026 /CNW/ -- 1 Hotel Austin, the first Texas property from 1 Hotels, the mission-driven luxury lifestyle brand founded by hospitality visionary Barry Sternlicht, is now open. Set within the 74-story Waterline--the tallest tower in the state--the 252-room hotel introduces an exciting new experience shaped by Austin's landscapes, creative community, and celebrated food scene.
Developed by Lincoln and Kairoi Residential, 1 Hotel Austin is part of the mixed-use Waterline development, which has transformed the edge of the Rainey Street District into a thriving gateway between downtown and Austin's parklands. The building's sculpted form creates a striking new landmark on the Austin skyline. Architecture is by Kohn Pedersen Fox, with HKS Architects serving as architect of record, interiors by Studio MAI in collaboration with the Starwood Hotels design team, and landscape design by TBG Partners.
"Opening in Austin is a milestone for 1 Hotels," says Barry Sternlicht, Founder of 1 Hotels and Chairman of Starwood Hotels. "Austin is a remarkable city, as it maintains its great traditions while embracing change and acting as a poster child for the brightest future. Few cities have been able to grow with the confidence Austin has while holding onto the qualities that make it special: its creativity, independent spirit, welcoming character, and extraordinary natural beauty. 1 Hotels' DNA is about celebrating nature and healthy and sustainable living; this location is perfect for us--set in the heart of the city, alongside Waller Creek, overlooking the Waterloo Greenway, and steps from the trail around Lady Bird Lake. The connection between nature and urban life is our perfect site."
A Stay Inspired by Austin
Located steps from the Waterloo Greenway and the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, the hotel places guests between the energy of downtown and the natural spaces that shape daily life in Austin. Restaurants, music venues, cultural attractions, parks, Waller Creek, and the 10-mile trail around Lady Bird Lake are all within easy reach. The same spirit that defines Austin can be felt throughout the hotel.
"At 1 Hotel Austin, we're bringing a new energy to the city, one rooted in community, wellness, sustainability, and unforgettable experiences," says Raul Leal, CEO of Starwood Hotels. "We envision more than a hotel. We're creating a welcoming gathering place where travelers and locals come together to connect, enjoy exceptional food and beverage experiences, and celebrate the vibrant spirit and natural beauty that make Austin so special."
Every space at 1 Hotel Austin draws inspiration from its surroundings, with natural materials like locally quarried limestone, oak, and reclaimed wood salvaged from historic American structures. More than 4,000 plants representing over 30 species, along with a living plant wall, bring the landscapes of Central Texas indoors. The lobby experience is intentionally residential rather than formal. The bright and airy space features soaring wood ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the landscape. Seating clusters are arranged more like a living room than a traditional hotel lobby, inviting guests to linger.
Upstairs, the corridors have warm wood paneling, tactile wall treatments, and soft indirect lighting, creating a quiet transition from the public spaces to the privacy of each room. Inside the 252 accommodations--including 60 suites--woven textiles, oat-colored fabrics, handcrafted textures, and lush greenery give the rooms a relaxed, residential quality. Bathrooms have a spa-like palette with stone vanities and natural finishes. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame views of Lady Bird Lake, Waller Creek, or the downtown skyline.
The in-room amenities make each stay comfortable while reflecting the hotel's focus on wellness, sustainability, and local discovery. There are filtered water taps, reusable glassware crafted from recycled wine bottles, cotton robes and slippers, yoga mats, and Bamford bath amenities made with organic ingredients. Minibars are stocked with a thoughtful mix of beverages, bites, and personal care items. Local selections include chocolates from Desnudo, snacks from Austin Pretzel Company, Wildflower Caramels, and Tamalitoz treats, giving visitors a taste of the city without leaving their room.
Where Austin Eats, Drinks, and Connects
With three distinct food and beverage venues, 1 Hotel Austin is designed as a destination that evolves throughout the day, from morning coffee to dinner with park views to cocktails above the skyline. Seasonality, local sourcing, and low-waste practices guide both the food and beverage offerings, with ingredients sourced from Texas farms and producers and creative uses found for ingredients that might otherwise go to waste.
Alteño is Austin's first restaurant from James Beard Award nominee Chef Johnny Curiel, whose Denver restaurants, Alma Fonda Fina and Mezcaleria Alma, both hold Michelin stars. Alteño is rooted in the bold, fire-driven flavors of the Jalisco Highlands, where he grew up, and honors the culinary traditions passed down by Johnny Curiel's father, the original Alteño, or "highlander." Every aspect of the campestre-style restaurant reflects his heritage and is informed by Curiel's memories of family gatherings around the firepit and visits with his father to cevicherías and marisquerías along the Mexican coast. Fire-cooked meats, seafood-forward plates, and heritage flavors bring those experiences together for Austin. The bar has one of the city's largest selections of distilled Mexican spirits, including more than 40 mezcals alongside additive-free tequilas, raicilla, sotol, and ancient corn whiskey.
The restaurant is organized around an open kitchen that brings guests closer to the culinary experience. Stone surfaces, handcrafted details, and open shelving create an inviting, lively atmosphere, while a private dining room surrounded by windows offers an intimate space for celebrations and group dinners.
"Opening a restaurant in Austin has been a dream for a long time," says Curiel. "The meals I remember most from growing up were spent around the fire with family and friends, sharing food and staying at the table long after we had finished eating. At Alteño, I want guests to feel like they have been welcomed into our home, where plates are passed, drinks are poured, and everyone has a place at the table."
At street level, Neighbors Café and Wine Bar--the first Neighbors wine bar in the 1 Hotels collection--opens directly to both the lobby and the neighborhood. From breakfast to cocktails and small plates, Neighbors shifts effortlessly from day into evening. The beverage menu centers on Mediterranean wines, including biodynamic, minimal-intervention, and sustainably farmed producers, alongside crisp spritzes, ice-cold mini martinis, botanical-forward Gin & Tonics, and cocktails such as the Nitro Espresso Martini. Music is also central to the experience, with a vinyl soundtrack setting the mood. A calendar of recurring events connects guests with the local community, from game nights to Matcha Mondays with Mori Matcha.
Following its headline-making debut at 1 Hotel South Beach, watr arrives in Austin as the highly anticipated second location of the celebrated rooftop concept. Perched 16 stories above the city with sweeping views of the skyline and Lady Bird Lake, watr brings together inventive cocktails, Japanese-inspired cuisine, and a social calendar that stretches from laid-back afternoons by the pool to DJ sets and monthly Full Moon parties. The cocktail program takes a low-waste approach, giving ingredients a second life through techniques that turn spent sparkling wine into syrups, grounds into treacle, and citrus into oleo saccharum and dehydrated garnishes. The menu is social and sharable, with tasting flights of signature hand rolls, a creative raw bar, and an interactive Binchotan experience with chutoro prepared tableside.
From cocktail-making classes to sound baths, the hotel's calendar of Happenings and Daylife experiences gives guests a range of ways to take part in local life. Highlights include natural clothing-dye workshops led by the Central Texas Fashion Coalition. 1 Reset is a monthly gathering centered on journaling and vision boarding. During Dark Sky evenings, the lobby lights are dimmed for a candlelit night that raises awareness of light pollution.
Texas-Sized Wellness
The hotel's dedicated wellness floor gives guests space to exercise, recover, and recharge. A spacious fitness center features state-of-the-art cardio and strength-training equipment and opens onto an outdoor terrace overlooking the Austin skyline and Lady Bird Lake. A dedicated yoga studio hosts classes for hotel guests and the local community, with sessions on the adjoining terrace when weather permits. Personal training is offered in partnership with Monroe, an Austin private members club featuring indoor and outdoor training, two fitness floors, sauna, and cold plunge.
Bamford Wellness Spa was founded by Carole Bamford, a pioneer in organic, sustainable, and holistic living. The spa includes six private treatment rooms, a dedicated couples suite with a steam shower, locker rooms, and relaxation areas. A retail boutique carries Bamford's skincare, bath, and body products, made with organic botanicals. Throughout, the design draws inspiration from the bathhouses and cabins in Texas Hill Country. The treatment menu combines Bamford's signature rituals with massages, personalized facials, infrared sauna sessions, soundwave therapy, red light treatments, and recovery experiences.
The hotel's wellness offerings extend beyond the dedicated floor through a three-mile Sunday run club around Lady Bird Lake and other experiences that make use of the hotel's proximity to the trail, lake, and surrounding parkland. First-time guests also receive a complimentary three-day pass to Monroe, with access to its facilities, including sauna, cold plunge, and infrared therapy.
An Art Collection Inspired by Place
Art is woven into nearly every corner of the hotel, with a collection that connects Austin's natural environment and architectural history with the work of artists and makers from Texas and beyond. Drawing from the city's relationship to water and the layered history of Rainey Street, the pieces incorporate impressions, fibers, pigments, and found materials that carry traces of their origins.
Artist Nate Page transformed the imprint of a historic Rainey Street bungalow into a monumental installation that unfolds across the corridors on all 10 guest room floors. At Neighbors Café and Wine Bar, Christian Kasperkovitz created a site-specific mural using pigments made with clay collected from Waller Creek. Additional commissions include biophilic installations by Alejandro Bataille, woven pieces by Peruvian textile artist Jimena Bedoya, hand-carved wood sculptures by Vince Skelly, and works by Los Angeles artist Sarah Lesher.
Designed with Purpose
Responsible design has informed every aspect of 1 Hotel Austin, from the materials used throughout the building to the experiences offered to guests. The property is pursuing LEED Gold certification and incorporates responsibly sourced wood, natural stone, reusable glassware, and other durable materials as part of the brand's long-standing commitment to reducing waste while creating beautiful, enduring spaces.
Planting is integral to the approach. Thousands of native and climate-appropriate species fill the indoor and outdoor spaces, supporting biodiversity and local pollinators. An on-site apiary, built and cared for in partnership with Keeper's Harvest, supplies honey featured at Neighbors. Plants that need additional care can be rehabilitated in off-site greenhouses and returned to the property as they recover.
Sustainability is also built into the details of a stay, from FSC-certified wooden key cards and natural stone "Not Now" door signs to recycled-paper hangers, seed-paper amenity cards, and in-room chalkboards that replace disposable notepads. Fully electric Audi Q6 e-tron house cars are available for guest's excursions around Austin. Through 1 Less Thing, guests can leave behind gently used clothing for donation to Thrift-ish, a local community organization that provides clothes to shelters and encampments for the unhoused.
Behind the scenes, the hotel works with Foodprint Group on waste reduction across its food and beverage operations and with Texas Disposal Systems to manage recycling, composting, and waste diversion across the property.
For meetings, celebrations, and private events, 1 Hotel Austin offers more than 10,000 square feet of event space for privatization and buyouts. The 14th floor event spaces include a 4,500-square-foot, divisible ballroom, 6,000 square feet of pre-function space with both indoor and outdoor terraces overlooking downtown and Lady Bird Lake, and three boardrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows. Events are supported by the brand's Certified Sustainable Gatherings program. The program reduces unnecessary waste through responsible sourcing, lower-impact menus, reusable serviceware, donation practices, and operational planning tailored to each event.
Welcome to 1 Hotel Austin
Now open at the meeting point of Waller Creek and Lady Bird Lake, 1 Hotel Austin offers a new way to experience the city, from restorative spa rituals to hearth-cooked dinners, rooftop cocktails, and nights overlooking the Austin skyline. Learn more about the property at 1hotels.com/austin.
ABOUT 1 HOTEL AUSTIN
Set within the 74-story Waterline, the tallest tower in Texas, 1 Hotel Austin is the brand's first property in the state. Overlooking Lady Bird Lake, the 252-room hotel is inspired by the landscapes of Texas Hill Country and Austin's creative community. The property is home to three distinct dining destinations, including Alteño from James Beard Award nominee Chef Johnny Curiel, Neighbors Café and Wine Bar, and watr, the second location of the rooftop restaurant first introduced at 1 Hotel South Beach. The hotel also features a dedicated wellness floor with fitness offerings and an outpost of Bamford Wellness Spa, a rooftop pool, and more than 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space. From its design to its sustainability initiatives, the property reflects 1 Hotels' mission to connect guests with nature. Additional information can be found at 1hotels.com/austin.
ABOUT 1 HOTELS
As a mission-driven luxury lifestyle hotel brand inspired by nature, 1 Hotels cultivates the best of sustainable design and architecture, together with extraordinary comfort and an unrivaled level of service. With properties among some of the first to receive the prestigious MICHELIN Key distinction, 1 Hotels is inspired by a simple idea: those who travel the world should also care about it. It is, after all, 1 world. 1 Hotels launched in 2015 with the opening of exclusive properties in Miami's South Beach and Manhattan's Central Park, followed by Brooklyn, located on the East River in February 2017; West Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard in June 2019; Toronto in 2021; San Francisco and Nashville in 2022; in 2023, the Hanalei Bay (Kauai) flagship property and Mayfair (London), the brand's first European property; and Seattle, Melbourne (Australia) and Copenhagen in 2025 and Tokyo and Austin (Texas) in 2026. The brand is expanding with properties under development in Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), Paris, Elounda Hills (Crete), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico) and Hudson Valley (New York). Additional information can be found at 1hotels.com.
ABOUT STARWOOD HOTELS
Starwood Hotels, an affiliate of global private investment firm Starwood Capital Group, is a sustainable hotel brand management company that operates 1 Hotels, a nature-inspired lifestyle brand that launched in 2015 with properties in South Beach (Miami) and Manhattan and includes Brooklyn Bridge (New York City), West Hollywood (Los Angeles), Toronto, San Francisco, Nashville, the Hanalei Bay (Kauai) flagship property, the brand's first European property in Mayfair (London), Seattle, Melbourne (Australia), Copenhagen, Tokyo and Austin (Texas) with projects in development in Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), Paris, Elounda Hills (Crete), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico) and Hudson Valley (New York); Baccarat Hotels & Resorts, a luxury brand that made its debut in March 2015 with the opening of its flagship property in New York City, with projects under development in Rome, Dubai, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Brickell (Miami), and the Maldives; and Treehouse Hotels, which premiered in London in 2019 and now includes Manchester (UK) and Silicon Valley (California), with projects under development in Brickell (Miami), Adelaide (Australia), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), and Miami Beach. Leveraging its marketing, design, operational, and technological expertise, Starwood Hotels is the force behind some of the most groundbreaking and dynamic hotel brands in the world. Additional information can be found at starwoodhotels.com.
ABOUT LINCOLN PROPERTY COMPANY
Lincoln Property Company ("Lincoln") is one of the largest private real estate firms in the United States. Offering a fully integrated platform of real estate services and innovative solutions to owners, investors, lenders, and occupiers, Lincoln supports the entire real estate lifecycle across asset types, including office, multifamily, life science, retail, industrial, data center, production studio, healthcare, government, higher education, sports and entertainment, and mixed-use properties, throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Lincoln's combined management and leasing portfolio on behalf of institutional clients includes more than 720 million square feet of commercial space. For more information, visit lpc.com.
ABOUT KAIROI RESIDENTIAL
KAIROI RESIDENTIAL is a partner-led company with a unified approach to investing, developing, and managing multifamily communities. Kairoi has been involved in the business of developing and owning multifamily properties since 2002. Over the course of our existence, we have developed or owned in excess of 57,000 units in many cities and states across the country. Kairoi Residential has developed approximately $2.5B in new developments in San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, Charlotte, and Austin. For more information, please visit kairoi.com.
SOURCE 1 Hotels
Elizabeth Traub, [email protected]
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