| GlobeSt.com
Commercial Real Estate News and Property Resource
January 23, 2008
Taurus Southern Starts 62,500-SF Green Building
By
Natalie Keith
ORLANDO-Locally based Taurus Southern Investments LLC has broken ground on the 62,500-sf Discovery TechCenter II Building One at 2600 Discovery Dr. in the Central Florida Research Park. The single-story building is part of the two-building, 118,400-sf office/flex-tech Discovery TechCenter II complex.
Taurus Southern Investments managing partner Jeff McFadden tells GlobeSt.com that the building, which is expected to be completed in July, is being built on spec. Leasing efforts have just started for the project, but no deals have yet been signed. The company anticipates beginning construction on the second Discovery TechCenter II building sometime after leasing has been completed on the first one.
“We anticipate the building will attract the typical tenants in the other buildings in the Central Florida Research Park, such as defense- or university-related tenants,” McFadden says.
The project has received LEED-CS Gold pre-certification. Kelsey Construction Inc. is the general contractor on the project and locally based Baker Barrios Architects Inc. is the architect.
With the sustainable features in the building, Taurus Southern is projecting the building will achieve an 8% energy savings. Also, with water availability a concern in Florida, the building’s design incorporates rainwater collection systems that will be used to flush toilets. The landscape irrigation system will be supplied from an on-site retention pond which, when equipped with a meter, can be connected to a gray water system that will run through Central Florida Research Park. As a result, it is anticipated that the building will use 90% less potable water than a conventional building and save 450,000 gallons per year.
The building is the first Taurus has developed that is LEED pre-certified. “We anticipate that we’ll incorporate green elements in future projects, but to what extent, we don’t know,” McFadden. “We’ll make that determination based on our experience with this building.”
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