J. Stephen Gossett Jr., co-founder and vice president of the Dallas-based firm, tells GlobeSt.com that the makeover plan for the seven-story building at 2110 Research Row will result in the reduction of 1,500 metric tons of greenhouse gases or the equivalent of removing about 285 vehicles from the road. He estimates the savings will surpass 50% of existing energy costs. The "greening up" of the building, owned by Moser Realty Group of Dallas, pencils out to be so promising that Transcend Equity has jumped into talks with a national REIT to assess its medical-related commercial properties for similar gains, Gossett says.

[IMGCAP(2)]Older medical-related real estate typically uses "two to three times" more energy than comparably sized traditional office buildings, says Gossett, who estimates the Research Row building's energy costs are running about $6 per sf to $6.50 per sf annually. The goal is to "future proof it against higher costs of energy," he says, "by using off-the-shelf technology and putting pieces of what you'd put in a brand-new building into an existing building to make it work properly."

With work about to start in the coming weeks, Gossett says the 50-year-old building will be done in December. Crews will work nights to open ceilings in 137 locations, replace underpinnings and close them back up before tenants arrive in the morning. Half of the 90%-leased building is occupied by a University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center's Veripath Laboratories.