Blair Landscape Architecture LLC

award winning quality - blairla

Office project rehab winner: Preserve at 620 Category: Office development (rehab) Companies involved*: Buyer brokers: Joe Simmons and Ben Tolson with Aquila Commercial Lead developers: PacVentures Inc., Aquila Commercial General contractor: S.Watts Group Inc Primary architect: Nelsen Partners Primary MEP: AYS Consulting Engineering Landscape architect: Blair Landscape Architecture Civil engineer: Doucet & Associates Title company: Heritage Title Financier: Washington Federal Law firm: Crowe & Dunlevy * all information provided by nominator Why it won: The Preserve at 620 was ahead of the curve when it pulled off the successful redevelopment of a big-box store into an enviable office building that was fully delivered in December 2019. The 223,625-square-foot office project was in a prior life a Northwest Austin Super Walmart. The building’s transformation into a breathtaking class A office project was something of a modern marvel — marking the first conversion nationwide of a Super Walmart store into such office space. But developer PacVentures seized upon the building’s innate advantages to pull off the trick: high ceilings, abundant parking, a large open floor plate offering a blank canvas, plenty of natural light and a picturesque location near the Balcones Canyon Preserve near FM 620 and RR 2222. The addition of a new facade and amenities such as a state-of-the-art fitness center, a dog run, a games lawn and a sports court helped transform the facility beyond its big-box roots. Many of these amenities are the result of creative reuse. For instance, the fitness amenity is in a converted oil changing station, while a two-truck loading dock was converted into a two-story office space. The development team also cut windows into exterior walls to allow natural light to permeate through the facility. These days, municipalities throughout the country are grappling with how to reimagine large retail centers facing increasingly high vacancy rates. The Preserve at 620 offers a blueprint. -Austin Business Journal