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FEATURE ARTICLE, DECEMBER 2005
LOOKING AHEAD AT 2006 PROJECTS
Compiled by Nina Glickman
Dardenne Town Square
Dardenne Prairie, Missouri
In the St. Louis suburb of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, Opus Northwest LLC is developing Dardenne Town Square, a 425,000-square-foot, 56-acre retail development located at the intersection of Highway N and Highway 40/61. “[Dardenne Town Square] is one of the largest retail complexes under development in the greater St. Louis area,” says John Meyers, vice president of retail development with Opus Northwest. “This project serves the residents and the public works of the Dardenne Prairie community.”
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Opus Northwest is developing Dardenne Town Square, a 425,000-square-foot retail development in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri.
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Dardenne Town Square, designed as a community gathering space, will offer retailers such as Target, Shop ‘n Save, Wehrenberg Theatres and JC Penney. Opus Northwest has donated a parcel of land intended for municipal buildings, including a city hall. “Dardenne Prairie has been known as a bedroom community,” says Meyers. “A development like Dardenne Town Square will make it a destination for people in the surrounding area.” The development will serve Dardenne Prairie, O'Fallon, Lake St. Louis and St. Charles County. Opus has worked with the Missouri Department of Transportation, Dardenne Prairie and St. Charles County to create a $12 million Highway N overpass, which will provide enhanced access to the project. Pam Fogarty, the mayor of Dardenne Prairie, is thrilled with the development and its effect on the city. “Our city's vitality and future depends on the additional tax base and enhanced roadways that Dardenne Town Square will create,” she says. Fogarty also lauds Opus Northwest's efforts. “Our city wouldn't have survived without Opus' collaboration and contributions.”
Opus Northwest is serving as developer and design/builder for the project, with TB Realty serving as development consultant. KKE Architects is the project architect. Mark Pearl of Walpert Properties is the leasing agent.
Central Ohio Innovation Center
Dublin, Ohio
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The Central Ohio Innovation Center is a 1,500-acre next-generation research park being developed by the city of Dublin, Ohio.
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The Central Ohio Innovation Center is a development focusing on the medical, research and development, laboratory, and Class A office sectors. The project is being touted as a next-generation research park that will continue to diversify the city of Dublin's economy and create new jobs. Located along Avery Road and U.S. 33, the 1,500-acre project's tenants include UMC Partners, a not-for-profit corporation designed to develop business opportunities utilizing science and research originating from The Ohio State University Medical Center. UMC Partners has signed on to build three projects totaling 400,000 square feet on 100 acres, including a Particle Therapy Center—a cancer treatment facility that will be the first of its kind in North America—along with other clinical facilities and the Institute for Personalized Healthcare. Another medical venture, OhioHealth's 300,000-square-foot Dublin Methodist Hospital, is currently under construction. “There is a movement toward the information economy that is driving cities to set the conditions to accommodate technology segments,” says Colleen Gilger, the acting director of economic development with the city of Dublin. The Central Ohio Innovation Center is a part of that movement.
The center's location is no accident. “The U.S. 33 and State Route 161/Post Road area is a place where a synergy can be developed by setting zoning, identifying necessary types of infrastructure and assessing the types of economic development tools that can be used [as an incentive for] this type of development,” Gilger says. However, “technology-based economic businesses and industries can go anywhere in Dublin,” she adds.
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A conceptual rendering of one of the facilities in the Central Ohio Innovation Center.
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The city of Dublin expects that people from all over North America will come to the park because of the cutting-edge medical treatments available there. “We're taking the idea of knowledge-based business communities to the next level,” Gilger says. “This project will have a tremendously positive impact on the central Ohio region and the state.” Dublin is working with architect O'Brien/Atkins Associates to work out a master plan for the center and is seeking private developers to secure property and locate projects at the site. Mixed-Use Project by Duke Realty Corporation
Wilmington, Ohio
Nestled nearly equidistant from Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio, is Wilmington, a snug farmland area with mild industrial activity and good access to Ohio's major cities. Duke Realty Corporation will be developing a 700-acre mixed-use project in Wilmington at the Interstate 71 and U.S. 68 interchange, with hopes that the development will draw workers and businesses alike from the three neighboring cities. The land is owned by RLR Investments.
Global delivery company DHL has its North American hub in Wilmington. Bill Chester, industrial leasing representative in the Cincinnati office of Duke Realty, thinks the DHL hub will be an advantage. “We think some of DHL's customers are going to look at locating closer to DHL,” he says. “There are going to be some opportunities for companies that [distribute] to Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton. You have highway frontage, you can draw on workers from Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton. These are some of the things that are going to help drive this development.”
The Wilmington project is still in its early stages of development. The site itself, according to Chester, is “a little bit of a frontier site,” but the master plan is being put together and a market analysis will be a helpful tool in determining which sectors would achieve the most success. “The market analysis indicates that there is a demand for new residential stock in the area, “ Chester says. “[Duke Realty Corp.] thinks it's going to be distribution companies.” Chester also considers the possibility of retail and small office, but believes the majority of businesses that locate to the Wilmington development will be industrial.
300 North LaSalle
Chicago
Located along the Chicago River, 300 North LaSalle will add to the Chicago skyline with its stainless steel and glass architecture and soaring 775-foot height. The 60-story office tower is the most recent project for Hines, a Houston-based developer and owner. “We're going to break ground in the first quarter of 2006 and deliver the building in the first quarter of 2009,” says Jim Walsh, project manager with Hines' Chicago office.
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Hines is developing 300 North LaSalle, a 1.3 million-square-foot office tower in Chicago.
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Law firm Kirkland & Ellis is the first signed tenant, taking 600,000 square feet in the tower, which totals 1.3 million square feet. “We're talking with a lot of tenants,” Walsh says. “I think we'll attract large corporations that want a prominent address with the features of a new building, the efficiencies of the floorplan and the updated mechanical systems.” Hines will pursue LEED (Leadership for Energy and Efficient Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council, as it has with One South Dearborn, another Chicago building that it is currently completing. “We're still in the design phase [of 300 North LaSalle] but that's our goal: to again be in the LEED program,” Walsh says.
The decision to build on the site wasn't a hard one. “We monitor the available office sites in Chicago,” Walsh says, “and this [site] has been targeted as one of the premier remaining sites.” Hines will tear down the four-story concrete garage that currently stands on the site and build the tower up from there. “The site was really driven by the Kirkland & Ellis requirement, which then was able to kick off the development of this building,” Walsh says.
The tower, designed by architect John Pickard of Pickard Chilton Architects, will feature sophisticated glass and steel architecture, energy-efficient windows and unobstructed views of the Chicago River. “Besides being an office building for tenants, it's an architectural statement for the city,” Walsh remarks. Since historical buildings surround the tower, its river views will be secure. A three-story lobby and river-level café are also planned. There will be three levels of below-grade parking that will have direct elevator access to the building's lobby.
The 25,000-square-foot floorplates are ideally suited for the office tenant, with the LaSalle address as a bonus. “You have good transportation with the highways and you have the benefits of being right next to the downtown core, but also close to the restaurants and activity of the River North area,” Walsh says. “It's really a mixture of the live/work/play atmosphere.”
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