Insurer Hippo liked the building they were renting so much, they bought it. Hippo had leased roughly 34,600 square feet of office space in the four-story building. The Austin Business Journal reported publicly-traded Hippo told shareholders that a subsidiary of the company paid $26 million for the 48,000 square foot building at 701 E. Fifth Street. The seller was Elevate Sabine Investors LP, affiliated with developer Elevate Growth Partners.

The building sale stands out at a time when many companies are looking to shrink their office space or rethink how they use it in an era of hybrid work. Meta, Atmosphere, Home Depot, 3M, TikTok and WorkRise have also placed Austin real estate up for sublease in recent months.

Office vacancy remains high in the Central Business District. The district’s 12.1 million square feet of class A office space has vacancy of a little more than 18%.