HOUSTON – JD Warmack LP has broken ground on Research Forest Lakeside – Building 4, a 12-story, 300,000-sf spec office building in The Woodlands. Talisman Energy leases six floors of the building.
The building is part of the 76-acre Research Forest Lakeside project that will include 10 office buildings, convenience retail and will total over 1,798,398 square feet upon completion.
“This project is the best new development in the Houston area. As one of the first pre-certified LEED Gold projects in the Woodlands with a campus style, lakeside setting; the project is very attractive for large corporate users,” said Kurt Hull, AIA, Senior Principal at Ziegler Cooper.
Construction of the adjacent Building 5, a 200,000 GSF, 8-story, Americas’ office for Repsol will commence March 2013. The campus design is a collaboration between Ziegler Cooper Architects and Odell Associates (ZC+O). Research Forest Lakeside is located on the west side of Lake Woodlands between Lake Woodlands Drive and Research Forest Drive.
ZC+O completed master planning and design services for the 76-acre, heavily-wooded site fronting Lake Woodlands.
ZC+O splayed four of the eight new office buildings along the lakeside to gain unobstructed views and efficient solar orientation. The long facade of each building faces southward, placing the short ends of each building east and west, minimizing solar heat gain. Sustainable considerations were at the center of all the design decisions and buildings will be seeking a LEED Silver Certification or better. The plan allows the development to function as independently addressed buildings, or potentially, as a single corporate campus.
In addition to ZC+O, other team members include David E. Harvey Builders, general contractor; Haynes Whaley, structural engineers; DBR, Inc., MEP; Jones Carter, civil engineers; and Clark Condon Associates, landscape architects.