By Bob Sechler
Austin American-Statesman
Originally published Sept. 6, 2019
When construction of what will be the tallest office tower in downtown Austin is finished in 2021, the taxpayer-funded state agency charged with overseeing retirement benefits for about 1.6 million Texas teachers and school employees will be among the first tenants moving in.
But the cost to taxpayers for the high-profile office space isn’t publicly known, because the Teacher Retirement System of Texas has been successful so far in its legal effort to withhold the information from the American-Statesman and keep secret how much it has agreed to pay for the estimated 100,000 square feet it has leased there.