The 242,000-square-foot complex will house archival storage, a state records center, preservation labs and an expanded Talking Book Program with new recording studios.
Next door, the Texas Facilities Commission is also developing the Pflugerville State Office Building for state employees. Due to rising real estate prices in Austin’s Central Business District, TFC is moving support services and public-facing operations to lower-cost locations outside the Capitol area. Lawmakers initially approved $40 million for land and design, and TFC searched for locations before ultimately choosing Pflugerville.
Explained
The new Pflugerville facility will bring together several major operations of TSLAC within a two-story building, along with a 4,800-square-foot shredder outbuilding for secure records destruction. The archives wing will include climate-controlled vaults for historic state records, film, photographs and glass plate negatives, as well as specialized cool and cold storage, intake and quarantine areas, and dedicated digitization and conservation labs.
A large portion of the facility will function as the new State Records Center, featuring two-tier shelving and support areas for storing, retrieving, scanning and digitizing inactive agency records.
The Talking Book Program—serving Texans with visual, physical and reading disabilities—will move its circulation hub to the new building, which will feature modern studios, a volunteer lounge and shared training areas.
The program offers audiobooks, magazines and playback machines, along with Texas-specific recordings produced by volunteers. Gloria Meraz, Texas State Library and Archives Commission director and librarian, said it’s one of TSLAC’s most relied-on services.
Moving the program to the new Pflugerville facility will significantly expand its capabilities, supporting a circulation hub that manages 80,000 cubic feet of records.
What they’re saying
Jerry Jones, Pflugerville Community Development Corporation executive director, said the Texas Facilities Commission evaluated multiple locations across the region before selecting Pflugerville, citing its access to strong utilities, access to SH 130, and location within a short drive of the Capitol and Austin–Bergstrom International Airport.
“This site stood out,” Jones said. “It tells us there is a reason why people and businesses are choosing Pflugerville.”
Jones said hosting a major state archival facility carries symbolic weight as well, positioning the city as a long-term home for part of “the story of Texas.”
“This is an opportunity for us to be part of the conversation about the story of Texas [and] how some of its most treasured documents are stored here in Pflugerville,” Jones said.
Jones added this project reinforces a shift already underway in Pflugerville’s identity.
The project, Jones said, carries meaning beyond economic value. The scale of the archival building, he noted, makes it a long-term investment in how Texas preserves history. Jones said documents will be stored in “a facility—that’s probably going to outlast many of us—for years to come,” securing Pflugerville as safekeepers of Texas history.
Another detail
The TFC is also developing the Pflugerville State Office Building, a four-story, 100,000-square-foot state office building to help agencies transition out of costly downtown leases and move more functions into state-owned space, said Francoise Luca, a spokesperson for the Texas Facilities Commission.
Following the purchase of land within Pflugerville’s Lakeside Meadows subdivision, the 89th Legislature later added $17 million to address rising construction costs.
The facility will function as a modest suburban office facility, roughly 30 minutes from the Capitol. It will feature surface parking and offer tenant amenities, such as shared conference rooms, break rooms and a grab-and-go food market. A satellite office of the Capitol Credit Union will also occupy the first floor.
The project is supported by a combined $57 million in legislative appropriations for land, design and construction.
Looking ahead
Construction on the new TSLAC building is underway, with utility work already completed and full construction continuing through 2026.
The agency expects to begin moving operations into the 242,000-square-foot Pflugerville facility by August 2027, with archival transfers, equipment installation and testing continuing into the fall.
The separate Pflugerville State Office Building is moving on a distinct timeline. The project remains in the design phase, according to the TFC. Site work is expected to begin in early 2026, and the building is projected to open in fall 2027.
