Green Building Expands

LEED-certified construction projects continue to win popularity as firms desire to be environmentally responsible ad meet community desires for green projects

Office Depot Breaks Ground in Austin on its First Green Store

Celebrating Office Depot’s first LEED-certified store are (L to R): Office Depot regional VP Joel Hilbun, U.S. Green Building Council’s Justin Doak, Office Depot VP of construction Edward Costa, Austin Mayor Will Wynn, Office Deport environmental strategy advisor Yalmaz Siddiqui and Office Deport director of construction Jim Cornwell.

Earlier this spring, Office Depot broke ground on its first green store, which will be located at 2320 Anderson Lane in Austin. Upon its completion this summer, the store will be Office Depot's first registered project to certify within USGBC's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Volume Certification Program.

Office Depot currently has 138 stores in Texas and eight stores in Austin. The company opened its first location in Austin 18 years ago and chose the environmentally conscious city for its first green store partly because of the Austin mayor's Climate Protection Plan aimed at reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions and making all city facilities, fleets and operations carbon-neutral by 2020.

Office Depot is one of a select few companies using the Volume Certification process by participating in USGBC's Portfolio Program, a pilot program formed to help retail chains achieve LEED-Certification at numerous locations and to facilitate the certification process for a company's prototype.

The new green store will integrate many green building design elements, including energy reduction and water conservation efforts.

Construction Starts for Houston CBD's First LEED Gold Building

A rendering of Discovery Tower, a 30-story, 871,000-sq-ft development planned for downtown Houston.

Trammell Crow Co. of Houston and Principal Real Estate Investors of Des Moines broke ground on Discovery Tower, a 30-story, 871,000-sq-ft development in downtown Houston. The project will be the first LEED Gold certified office building ever constructed in the city's Central Business District. Construction began in March with occupancy slated for the second quarter of 2010.

Located in the eastern entertainment district of the CBD, the Discovery Tower site sits adjacent to Discovery Green, Houston's new, $122-million, 12-acre downtown park and will offer tenants unobstructed views and pedestrian access to the park and the surrounding area. The tower will feature two stories of retail and restaurant space overlooking a landscaped arrival court and water garden and will include 28-stories comprising 853,000 sq ft of rentable office space. A 10-story parking structure on the adjacent block to the north of the building will service the parking needs of future tenants.

Gensler of Houston is the design firm responsible for the project, which is being constructed by Gilbane Building Co. of Houston.

Discovery Tower is the second project in Houston and fifth in the U.S. being built under the national office development program established by Trammell Crow Co. and Principal Real Estate Investors in 2006. The program is focused on the development of more than $1 billion of new, Class A office buildings in markets throughout the U.S. over the next five years. Discovery Tower will represent the largest single project undertaken in the program.

Austin Plans New Downtown Museum, LEED Office Tower

A rendering shows Austin’s planned downtown museum facility and multi-purpose co-development, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.

The Austin Museum of Art unveiled a rendering for the new downtown museum facility and multi-purpose co-development that will be built on the block it owns at Fourth and Guadalupe Streets. The new Museum building will be developed in partnership with Houston-based Hines and architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven, Conn.

The facility will feature a three-story 40,000-sq-ft space more than doubling the exhibition and education spaces from the its present location.

The currently undeveloped block will also be home to Museum Tower, a 30-story, 425,000-sq-ft office building that will be the first LEED-certified office project in downtown Austin. Both the museum and the tower will be designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli and developed by Hines.

Koll Breaks Ground on Five Industrial Projects, Starting in Houston

Dallas-based Koll Development Co. and Harbert Management Corp. of Birmingham are launching a $120 million national industrial development program with the first project located in Houston across from Ellington Field. Construction began in April with completion scheduled for December.

KDC will develop the 50-acre Houston industrial site in two phases. Phase I development will include three buildings totaling 500,000 sq ft. The Phase II development, scheduled to begin in 2010, will include two buildings totaling 320,000 sq ft. The overall value of the Houston development is in excess of $50 million. KDC has selected Azimuth Architecture as project architects and Cobb, Fendley & Associates, Inc. as the civil engineer.

KDC plans to break ground on four additional industrial developments in 2008 on behalf of the KDC-HMC development venture.

Bridge Street Town Centre Breaks Ground in McKinney

Ground broke recently in McKinney on the $200 million Bridge Street Town Centre, a mixed-use, upscale lifestyle featuring retail, office and a local college.

The Westin McKinney and Conference Center will be the centerpiece of the Bridge Street Town Centre. Phase I is scheduled to be completed fall 2009. Located at the northeast corner of U.S. 75 and SH 121, the first phase of the development will include a five-story, 221-room Westin McKinney; the 43,000-sq-ft McKinney Convention Center; and the 125,000-sq-ft Collin College (formerly Collin County Community College) Higher Education Center.

The Collin College campus is targeted for opening in late 2009 and will be approximately 125,000 sq ft with 50,000 sq ft dedicated to the Higher Education Center. The McKinney Economic Development Corp. provided the land for the Collin College facility and will also pay up to $2 million toward the construction of a parking garage on the site.

Construction Starts on Texas Regional Medical Center at Sunnyvale

Building began earlier this year on Texas Regional Medical Center at Sunnyvale, which will be the town's first hospital when it opens in spring 2009. The facility will be a 117,000-sq-ft general acute-care hospital, with an estimated total cost of $68 million.

The hospital will be located on a 29-acre campus south of IH-80.

Richardson-based Rockwall Hospitals Inc., an affiliate of Dallas-based Cottonwood Partners, is managing all phases of a hospital project.

Arlington-based Ascension Group Architects designed the hospital. Dallas-based Rogers-O'Brien Construction is the general contractor.

SHW Group Engineers First American University in Dubai Campus

Dallas-based SHW Group will design and engineer a new 32,000-sq-ft education facility for Michigan State University in Dubai, making it the first American university to have a presence in the Dubai International Academic City.

The DIAC was established in 2006 to address the demands for higher education. Located about 20 minutes from the Dubai business district, the DIAC spans 25 million sq ft and is dedicated solely to universities and colleges. Eight million sq ft are dedicated to the international higher education zone, while 3 million sq ft will be allocated for research and development centers.

SHW Group's $2.5 million project will include MSU's Construction Management, Family and Community Services, Communication Arts and Computer Engineering programs. SHW designers are taking two floors of shell space in a new building through programming, conceptual design, schematic design and design development, which includes mechanical, electrical and architectural development.

Rowland Cos. Completes Midlothian Church

Rowland Companies of Fort Worth recently completed construction of a new 19-acre campus for the Creekside Church of Christ in Midlothian. The church relocated from its campus in DeSoto.

The church's new construction includes a 30,000-sq-ft facility with a 600-seat worship center, full stage, water feature baptismal, administrative offices, classrooms, indoor playground, basketball/volleyball court and a commercial grade kitchen.