‘Why it won: Complex, impressive buildings are rising all over Austin’s urban core — it can be hard to stand out. And risky.
With 901 E 6th, developer Endeavor Real Estate Group decided to go for something completely new to the city, using cross laminated timber in the above-grade structural design.
“City of Austin staff had not permitted a large commercial building in Austin with CLT in the past so this presented many challenges and delays,” according to the nomination. “In addition to design and permitting challenges created by CLT there were no local contractors with CLT experience. We weighed those risks against what we determined the added value of utilizing CLT would be and made the decision to incorporate it.”
That required extra money and time, and Endeavor hired a timber construction industry consultant to help educate city staff on the design approval process. Using CLT as a structural element resuted in an estimated extra six months of approval time.
Ultimately, the challenges were surmounted and resulted in a unique look and feel for the building. And the decision paid off, as Clarion Partners last fall purchased the 129,000-square-foot office building, which is leased by companies such as Resideo, Opcity and Sysco.
While a price wasn’t disclosed, Austin Business Journal reported at the time it could have been for a per-square-foot record.’