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Intel Shell
Building in Austin, Texas

The Intel Shell was an unfinished Intel building located in Austin, Texas. It was imploded on February 25, 2007, and the Austin United States Courthouse now stands in its place.

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History

The city of Austin had given Intel a $15 million incentive package for the construction of the building, intended to be a ten story chip-design center, built for $124 million. According to the The Austin Chronicle, "Winning the new Intel project symbolized all that was robust about Austin's economy and the revitalization of Downtown, in those high tech glory days."3

Because of a slowing economy, construction stopped in March 2001, and the building was abandoned from March 2001 to 2004,4 becoming something of a symbol of the early 2000s recession.56 The abandoned building was a four story structure of steel and concrete decks.7 In 2004, the General Services Administration bought the site for the construction of a new courthouse.8

The building was imploded a Sunday morning in 2007. Hundreds of spectators cheered the destruction. Mayor Will Wynn had made attempts to preserve the building.9

Aftermath

After the demolition, an Austin man sold glass bottles with what he said was debris from the building, labeled "Intel Shell Inside".10 The construction of the Austin U.S. courthouse was completed in 2012.11

References

  1. "City prepares to implode Intel shell". Austin Business Journal. 22 February 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070226112716/https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2007/02/19/daily38.html ↩

  2. "Intel Building Demolition". The Austin Chronicle. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 2024-09-28. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-03-02/451609/ ↩

  3. "Farewell, Intel Shell". The Austin Chronicle. 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2024-09-28. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-02-23/449480/ ↩

  4. "Farewell, Intel Shell". The Austin Chronicle. 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2024-09-28. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-02-23/449480/ ↩

  5. Sharpe, Stephen; D'Auterive, Nico (10 September 2003). "Feds Choose Abandoned Intel Block as Preferred Site for U.S. Courthouse". Texas Architect Magazine. p. 13. https://archive.org/details/usmodernist-TA-2003-09-10/page/12/mode/2up?q=%22intel+shell%22 ↩

  6. Yardley, Jim (8 July 2001). "Capital of an Oil State Feels High-Tech Fall". The New York Times. ProQuest 92121361 – via ProQuest. https://www.proquest.com/docview/92121361/C21CF4282174FACPQ/2?accountid=196403&sourcetype=Newspapers ↩

  7. Galligan, Jude (17 December 2012). "New Downtown Austin Federal Courthouse Opens, Exorcises Ghost of Intel Shell". Towers. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201127094754/https://austin.towers.net/new-downtown-austin-federal-courthouse-opens-exorcises-ghost-of-intel-shell/ ↩

  8. "Farewell, Intel Shell". The Austin Chronicle. 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2024-09-28. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-02-23/449480/ ↩

  9. "Intel Building Demolition". The Austin Chronicle. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 2024-09-28. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-03-02/451609/ ↩

  10. Weinstein, Natalie (12 March 2007). "The dirt--and dust--on Intel". CNET. Retrieved 30 May 2025. https://www.cnet.com/culture/the-dirt-and-dust-on-intel/ ↩

  11. Galligan, Jude (17 December 2012). "New Downtown Austin Federal Courthouse Opens, Exorcises Ghost of Intel Shell". Towers. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201127094754/https://austin.towers.net/new-downtown-austin-federal-courthouse-opens-exorcises-ghost-of-intel-shell/ ↩