Economic concerns sweeping the nation have been taken into consideration, but the long-term outlook is driving the development partners to forge ahead with confidence on the 2.14-acre project at 1717 McKinney St. and 1700 Cedar Springs Rd., according to Greg Fuller, COO of Dallas-based Granite Properties. "You really have to have a five-year horizon window. There definitely are going to be areas that see economic downturn, but real estate fundamentals in that area [Uptown] are not going to go away," he tells GlobeSt.com. "You've got to look long term, past this rocky bubble. Great real estate in great locations will always survive in good times or bad."

The class AA office tower is a 19-story design, with 361,524 sf of rentable LEED Silver-certified space. It will sit on top of six levels of parking and retail, with a one-acre "amenity" deck that connects to its neighbor, a 26-story residential tower with 292 units, also being designed for LEED certification. It will have 20 residential floors and six floors of parking and retail. The towers will have 15,000 sf of street-level retail and restaurant space plus room for a bank with drive-through lanes. [IMGCAP(2)]The deck will sport a 4,000-sf fitness center and infinity-edge pool in a park-like setting overlooking Victory Park and Downtown, with the Calatrava Bridge as part of the view from the balconies of upper-bank office tenants.

Granite will own its tower and the Atlanta-based Gables will own its tower too, with the land tract secured by condominium interests, according to Fuller. "We decided to develop as one for economies of scale," he explains. "We are getting a 7% to 10% reduction in pricing than if we had built them separately." Leading Gables' project is its senior vice president Doug Chesnut.