Notable Architecture Highlights New Projects in Houston, Dallas

Second American creation for renowned architect Yoshio Taniguchi adds to Houston's Museum District; Dallas’ Texas Capital Bank Building tops out on the $120 million project.

Construction Starts on Asia Society Texas Center’s Headquarters

Architect Yoshio Taniguchi has designed his second project in the United States with the future headquarters of the Asia Society Texas Center in Houston.

Located in Houston's Museum District, the 38,000-sq-ft facility will serve as the permanent home of Asia Society Texas Center. The two-story structure will feature wide foyers and public spaces, a theater, an art gallery, flexible meeting rooms, a garden cafe and offices. The center is scheduled to open in 2010.

The building's exterior will primarily be Jura limestone and glass curtain wall with accents of stainless steel and aluminum panels. The floor material at ground level is black granite on the exterior and volcanic rock on the interior. The limestone will continue as the primary material on the inside walls and part of floor on second floor. Walls in the 280-seat theater will be acoustical wood panels.

Building contractor for the new Texas Center is W. S. Bellows Construction of Houston. Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc. of Houston serves as architect of record. Project Control of San Antonio has been retained as project manager.

SMU Engineering Building Gets Gold Level LEED Certification

Southern Methodist University's Embrey Engineering Building received Gold certification from LEED. It was built by Turner Construction and designed by Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford.

The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Southern Methodist University's Embrey Engineering Building with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction, or LEED-NC, certification at the gold level, making it the only collegiate academic building in Texas and one of the first in the United States to achieve such standards.

The Embrey Building was built by Dallas-based Turner Construction and designed by Fort Worth-based Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford to meet LEED standards. It was completed in 2006, and was awarded a Texas Construction Best of 2006 Award of Excellence. Building the Embrey building to LEED standards increased construction costs by 2% to 3%, offset by an estimated $70,000 a year in energy costs.

Texas Capital Bank Building Topping Out Adds to Dallas Skyline

The new Texas Capital Bank Building office tower at 2000 McKinney marked its topping out event at a height of 292 ft. The $120 million project includes a five-story residential/retail building as well as the 20-story office tower sitting on 2.9 acres. The project fronts on McKinney Avenue and the access road to Woodall Rodgers freeway.

Built by The Beck Group of Dallas, the project was developed by Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. and Dallas-based Corrigan Properties. HKS Inc. of Dallas is the architect.

The Texas Capital Bank, the building's namesake and the largest single tenant, will occupy 100,000 sq ft when it opens in the fall.

The project's foundation work began in March of 2007. Beck's building process included erecting 925,000 sq ft of formwork, placing 950,000 lbs of post tensioned steel and 8.7 million lbs of rebar and pouring 42,000 yds of concrete.

New Development to Serve Rice University's Growing Student Body

Tellepsen of Houston was recently awarded more than $50 million in construction and pre-design contracts for three expansion projects on the Rice University campus in downtown Houston, all of which will replace older facilities.

The two-story, multi-use Recreational & Wellness Center, which broke ground in April, will house student leisure and athletic activities. The Rice Continuing Studies building and Conference Center projects are expected to commence construction mid-2009 pending funding. Currently in the pre-design phase, the two facilities are expected to add more than 75,000 sq ft of renovated space.

Air Force Center Selects MACTEC as Architect-Engineer

The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment has selected MACTEC Engineering & Consulting to provide architect-engineer services.

Created in 1991, AFCEE is located at Brooks City Base in San Antonio. It is the principal engineering and environmental services agency for the United States Air Force.

MACTEC, based in Alpharetta, Ga., is providing a variety of Title I (design), Title II (construction inspection) and other services to administer and support environmental; military construction; military family housing; and facility sustainability, restoration and modernization programs as part of a five-year task order contract.

MACTEC has Texas offices in Austin, Houston and Dallas.

Duke Realty Corp. Builds New Facility for Galderma

Dallas-based Duke Realty's construction team was selected to develop a 50,000-sq-ft, two-story built-to-suit office building for Galderma, a joint venture between Nestlé and L'Oréal specializing in therapeutic, corrective and aesthetic solutions.

Galderma's new facility will be located on 4.61 acres off IH-35W, north of Fort Worth adjacent to its existing headquarters building and distribution center. Construction began in April with completion scheduled for January 2009.

$100 Million Mixed-Use Project Planned for Fort Worth

Fort Worth’s new $100 million mixed-use project, WestBend, is under way on some seven acres on the banks of the Trinity River, aiming for LEED certification. Designer firms include Gensler and Gideon Toal.

Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. in a partnership with RP Partners and local investors has purchased seven acres along Interstate 30 and the Trinity River in Fort Worth and has begun construction on a $100 million mixed-use project.

Three parcels of land on the banks of the Trinity River on University Drive south of U.S. Interstate 30 will become transformed into the 350,000-sq-ft WestBend, with 100,000 sq ft of specialty retail and restaurants, 30,000 sq ft of new Class A office space above retail, a 135-room hotel above retail and the fully renovated 120,000-sq-ft River Plaza office building. The first phase of WestBend will open fall 2009.

Hotel developer LodgeWorks LP will have a 135-room Hyatt Place in the project and WestBend will seek LEED certification.

Dallas-based Gensler is working on the project along with Fort Worth-based Gideon Toal.

Two Marriott Hotels Break Ground in The Colony

Dallas-based Jackson-Shaw real estate development and investment company broke ground on two Marriott hotels and announced the completion of phase one of The Cascades at The Colony, a 100-acre master-planned community located along the SH 121 corridor in The Colony.

The four-story Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites will include 104 guest rooms and a 7,540-sq-ft event center, including a 3,325-sq-ft ballroom. The four-story Marriott Residence Inn will feature 102 guestrooms.

In addition to breaking ground on the hotels, the company has completed the first phase of the Campus @ Cascades, comprising six buildings totaling over 200,000 sq ft of flex space.

Ascension Group Awarded Design Contract for Hospital Expansion

Arlington-based Ascension Group Architects was awarded the contract to design Central Texas Medical Center's previously announced $35 million expansion and renovation.

The design has not been chosen, but plans call for a new childbirth center at the San Marcos hospital, a level two neonatal critical care unit, a new cardiac telemetry inpatient nursing unit and an expansion/improvement of the hospital's surgical suite. The two-story addition will feature more than 64,000 sq ft.

Skanska Breaks Ground on Methodist Children's Expansion

Skanska USA Building Inc. – with headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. – began construction on the renovation and expansion of the Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio.

The expansion is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2009 and will cost more than $14 million. The 23,000-sq-ft addition will house new trauma and exam rooms and a new play area for patients. Additionally, the renovation includes updates to patient rooms and equipment and a redesign of the decor.

Trammell Crow Builds 100-Acre Distribution Park South of Dallas

Trammell Crow Co. began construction on an 887,810-sq-ft spec industrial facility located at the crossroads of 1H-20 and 1H-35 just south of Dallas. The building, which is phase two of a 100-acre distribution park along IH-20, sits on nearly 55 acres, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The facility, which is located a few miles west of the Union Pacific intermodal and is in a Triple Freeport Zone, will feature 36-ft clear heights.

The first phase of the development, which is comprised of 531,211 sq ft, was completed in the first quarter of 2007, and was leased Home Depot.

Carson Companies Plans Industrial Complex on 21 Acres in Houston

The Carson Cos. of Newport Beach, Calif., started development on the Portwall Distribution Center, a 400,000 sq-ft industrial complex on a 21-acre infill site the company purchased in Houston.

The site is located on the city's near east side on Portwall Street near the junction of Interstate 10 and Loop 610 East. The project architect is Powers Brown Architecture of Houston and the general contractor is Cadence McShane Corp., with offices in Dallas and Houston.

Robins & Morton Building Hospitals From Waco to Webster

Birmingham, Ala.-based Robins & Morton - with a Dallas office – was selected as general contractor on several Texas hospital projects with construction costs totaling more than $623 million.

Among the projects are the $126 million Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center replacement hospital in Waco with a scheduled completion date of June 2009; $190 million R.E. Thomason General Hospital children's hospital renovation/addition in El Paso with a scheduled completion date of December 2011; $110 million new St. Luke's Clear Lake Hospital in Webster with a scheduled completion date of April 2010; and the $62 million Peterson Regional Medical Center replacement hospital in Kerrville, which was completed April 2008.

KBR Selects Katy for West Houston Campus

KBR announced plans to develop a campus facility near Katy located off Grand Parkway and Interstate 10. KBR plans to enter into a long-term lease for the new facility, which is expected to be just over 910,000 sq ft, with Trammell Crow. KBR will continue to maintain a corporate and operations presence in downtown Houston. Construction is expected to begin before year-end with completion anticipated in 2010.

KBR's West Houston Campus will utilize low-rise, tilt-wall construction and is being designed within Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED, specifications.

DNV Chooses Duke to Develop Houston Office

Det Norske Veritas, a Norwegian-based global provider of services for managing risk, commissioned Dallas-based Duke Realty Corp. to develop a 90,000-sq ft Class A office building in the Katy submarket for its Houston operations. DNV helps customers, mainly within the maritime and energy sectors, to safely and responsibly improve their business performance.

Construction of DNV's new facility, which was designed by Powers Brown Architecture of Houston, began in June, with completion scheduled for early 2009.

KAI Texas to Design Fort Worth ISD Renovations

Fort Worth Independent School District contracted Dallas-based KAI Texas to serve as architect on the Eastern Hills elementary and high school renovation projects.

Construction costs to the elementary school are estimated at $1.3 million and $6.2 million for the high school. District voters approved a bond referendum in November 2007 to fund the renovations.

The district hired DMJM Management of Fort Worth to act as program manager to select firms from the pool of submissions that were best matched for the scope of work at the two schools. Construction is expected to begin in February 2009 on both schools and be completed in January 2010.

The Rim Gets Two New Additions

Wakefield Beasley & Associates Architects has begun design for two new buildings at The Rim in San Antonio. Buildings 200 and 300 will total 260,000 sq ft with ground-floor boutique retail and restaurant space and second-floor office space.