Pair of Opus Projects to Add 300,000 SF to Booming Texas Office Markets

Regions Southwest | Houston
Pair of Opus Projects to Add 300,000 SF to Booming Texas Office Markets
April 9, 2008
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Opus West Corp. is on the verge of increasing the pool of Class A office accommodations in Dallas and Houston with the delivery of an aggregate 300,000 square feet of space. The company just broke ground on a building in the suburban Dallas town of Addison, and has wrapped up the acquisition of 15 acres in Houston for a new project.

In Addison, work has gotten underway on Two Addison Circle, which will ultimately feature 198,000 square feet of space at 15725 North Dallas Parkway. It was last July when Opus West acquired the 3.5-acre site, one of Addison's few remaining parcels zoned for office development. Designed by HKS Architects, the six-story building is being planned to meet requirements for LEED Silver certification. The development will also feature a four-story parking facility that will be linked to the office structure via a covered walkway. Two Addison is being marketed by Peloton Real Estate Partners and is scheduled for delivery in December. According to a fourth quarter 2007 report by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc., office leasing activity is picking up in suburban Dallas, spurred by positive employment projections.

Opus West's project in Houston will occupy the newly acquired land within the 150-acre Westway Park master-planned development off Sam Houston Tollway. Opus purchased the parcel from DeVry University, which will continue to occupy about 60 percent of the nearly 100,000-square-foot One Westway Center building under a 12-year lease agreement; the lease marks a consolidation for DeVry. Opus West originally developed One Westway Center for DeVry six years ago, and will now upgrade the three-story structure to meet Class A standards. Additionally, the real estate concern will build another three-story structure, Two Westway Center, offering 100,000 square feet of new space.

The need for office space in the area is on the rise. "What's driving the demand is the same thing that's driving it all over the city and that's the energy business," Todd King, senior director of real estate development in Opus West's Houston office, told CPN today. "Also, there's such a significant expansion of the population on the western side of the city. And the creation of executive housing and the employee base that is moving into this area also contribute to demand." Groundbreaking for Two Westway Center is on target to take place during the third quarter of this year.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Opus West has developed over 51 million square feet of space over the last three decades. The company, a division of Minneapolis-based The Opus Group, presently has in excess of 10 million square feet in the planning or development stages.

 
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