David Karr, senior development manager for Hillwood Properties, has just become the developer's first LEED-accredited professional in Texas. He will be heading up a cutting-edge industrial development program at AllianceTexas, following a lead set in California. Tammy Spencer, development manager for Hillwood Investment Properties in San Bernadino, and her team are poised to break ground on 135,000-sf and 219,000-sf industrial buildings, the first of five totaling 1.3 million sf in InterChange Business Park, a 144-acre development at the University Parkway interchange of Interstate 215. A sixth building is an 800,000-sf build-to-suit that's under negotiation, but not likely to end up LEED-certified space like the rest of the park, according to a Hillwood spokesman.

Dallas-based Granite broke ground in March on the 318,557-sf Granite Westchase II at 10350 Richmond Ave. The silver LEED-CS project, set to deliver in April 2008, is 40% preleased with its quote at $20 per sf net plus electric. Granite COO Greg Fuller tells GlobeSt.com that the company paid 1% to 3% more to go green, bringing in development costs at $200 per sf for the class A speculative project.

"If we had to spend 10%, we couldn't do it. It's the right thing to do, but when you're a multi-tenant developer the market isn't paying for that yet," Fuller says. "We think it's one of those things that if you're not on 'the list' you're not going to be considered by tenants. If you are, you stand a better chance." He says that's the strategy behind Granite's decision to go green on all future office projects "when it's reasonably possible to achieve it" as with class A office with fully structured parking. He points out it will be harder to make the numbers work for value-add office.