A new approach to office infrastructure could help address Austin's worsening commute crisis, according to Michael Shear, leader of Strategic Office Networks. In a recent episode of The Building Texas Show, Shear proposed replacing a single 60-floor downtown tower with ten six-floor office buildings located in suburbs and exurbs such as Cedar Park and Luling. The strategy aims to reduce traffic congestion on I-35 while improving housing affordability and community resilience.
Shear argues that the current model of centralized downtown offices is outdated. He cites research from the 2026 book Overbuilt: The High Cost and Low Rewards of US Highways, which notes that 22% of land in 316 U.S. metro areas is paved. This echoes warnings from the Texas Transportation Institute that regions cannot build their way out of growth. "We've essentially entombed ourselves in a 20th century model, and now we're looking at how do we break through that into another dimension," Shear said.
The vision, which Shear calls Project ION, includes architecting dedicated secure communications networks for hospitals, universities, chip manufacturers, and emergency dispatch, rather than relying on generic broadband. Pairing edge computing with the Texas data center boom could harden communities against climate events, accidents, and geopolitical risks, particularly along the high-value I-35 corridor.
Shear emphasized that this is a structural transition, not just a remote-work debate. He referenced Nobel-recognized economic research by Joel Mokyr on how hardened institutions can stall innovation. The conversation also touched on generational economics: where a 30-year career once matched a 30-year mortgage, today's three-to-five-year job tenures put homebuying at risk unless networked hubs allow workers to change employers without changing communities.
Shear highlighted Central Texas assets such as the seat of state government, major R&D universities, military complexes, and semiconductor fabs as both a competitive advantage and a high-value target. He also pointed to a recent Christmas-parade live portal linking a Texas town to Ireland as a preview of XR, spatial acoustics, and haptic tools becoming mainstream within three to five years.
The episode, titled 'The Future of Work in Texas: Distributed Offices, Fiber Networks & Ending Commutes,' was published on March 9, 2026, and is available on YouTube and wherever podcasts are heard. Shear confirmed that Google Fiber crews were laying new lines outside his home during the week of taping, underscoring the ongoing infrastructure evolution.
