BUILDING TOGETHER: Joining Forces at GreenStreet
From retail and entertainment areas to top-tier dining and office space, GreenStreet—a mixed-use destination located in the heart of Downtown Houston—truly has it all. But with a variety of tenants and patrons to consider, construction within this four-city-block development is bound to run a little smoother when it’s familiar territory.
BRING IT ON
Owned and operated by Midway, a Houston-based real estate investment and development firm, GreenStreet is comprised of 300,000sf of pure entertainment space, 430,000sf of collaborative office space, a 223-room luxury hotel, prime shopping and dining, and “The Lawn”—a green space that offers the public free recreational events all year long. Over the last five years, Midway and several of GreenStreet’s tenants have partnered with Structure Tone Southwest to complete projects small and large. Ranging from 3,000sf to 60,000sf, each build-out provided the STSW team with a new opportunity to learn the ins and outs of this bustling location.
Tricky timing. Home to a variety of tenants operating at all hours, Structure Tone Southwest’s team has to be strategic when building anywhere within this Houston hotspot.
“Typically, when working in an occupied commercial building, office hours are from 7:00am to 6:00pm,” says Michael Neary Jr., project manager at Structure Tone Southwest. “But when the building is located in an entertainment district, sometimes those hours extend to 10:00pm or later.”
This makes for some odd construction hours, particularly when it comes to loud, invasive work. To avoid disturbing GreenStreet’s tenants and their visitors, the project team factors this time constraint into the projects’ schedules, restricting disruptive construction to carefully coordinated windows during the day and night.
At a crossroads. Intersected by three main roads, portions of the second floor of GreenStreet’s facility are actually built directly over Fannin Street and San Jacinto Street—meaning any work in and around those areas require coordinating safe road closures and proper traffic signage with the city. “Midway understands that safety is the core of a project’s success,” says Chris Talley, Structure Tone Southwest’s regional vice president. “Planning and building safely around their tenants, the public, and our workforce has been a cornerstone of our mutual success.” Structure Tone Southwest’s knowledge of those processes recently came in handy, as the Southwest team began preparing for their next project at GreenStreet: transforming three floors into a coworking environment for IWG’s Spaces.
BALANCING ACT
In addition to the knowledge gained over years of experience, Structure Tone Southwest’s success at GreenStreet can surely be attributed to the team’s approach to working with both Midway and the development’s tenants. For the project team, building at GreenStreet has always meant balancing the client’s vision, budget, and timeframe with Midway’s overarching goals for the property. “Since the beginning of our
relationship with Midway, we’ve always seen ourselves as guests at GreenStreet,” says Justin Goodman, director of business development
at Structure Tone Southwest.
Andrew McKinney, general manager of project operations, joined Midway’s GreenStreet team several years ago and has worked closely with the Structure Tone team on three major build-outs. He agrees that Structure Tone Southwest’s consideration for Midway’s needs as the landlord has really made all the difference.
“In addition to working well with our tenants and their project representatives, we’re very fortunate that the STSW team really values their partnership with us as the landlord,” McKinney says. “They understand we have a property we’re managing, and we have to be able to do that in concord with any buildout that might be happening elsewhere on the property.”
With such a strong working relationship, both Structure Tone Southwest and Midway are excited to continue their partnership on IWG’s Spaces 60,000sf space—GreenStreet’s next big build-out
Structure Tone Southwest Projects at GreenStreet
- 9thWonder
- AT&T office
- 1313 Main Street
- Root Sports (now AT&T SportsNet) IWG’s Spaces