Background
9500 Arboretum is a six-story, 182,311-square-foot office building located in Northwest Austin. AQUILA’s property management team has managed the building since 2016 and our asset services team has leased the building on behalf of PacTrust since 2007.
In 2019, the building ownership group worked with AQUILA to devise a plan for capital improvements and renovations to modernize the building. AQUILA’s project management team worked with architects, engineers, and consultants to develop and permit the plans and competitively bid the scope of work to multiple general contractors before awarding the project to a construction partner.
Challenges
The renovations encompassed extensive interior and exterior improvements and updates throughout the building:
- Construction of a fitness center and tenant amenity center/lounge
- A brand new exterior landscaping design and package
- Outdoor amenities including a covered walkway and re-worked main entry into the building
- Restroom renovations
- Common corridor upgrades
- Lobby improvements and custom decorative light fixtures
- Re-paving and improving the parking garage
The team had to ensure that while construction was ongoing, tenants still had safe and convenient access to the building at all times.
This capital improvement project began in 2019 and continued through early 2022. Managing several complicated capital improvement projects within one building, without disrupting tenant experience, is a challenge alone. However, this effort was made more complex by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, additional challenges with sequencing activities, and frequent changes in scope in order to deliver the ideal end product.
Throughout this three-year process, AQUILA’s project and property management teams worked together to successfully address the aforementioned issues and completely transform the building to the owner’s specifications. PacTrust was particularly pleased considering they were unable to visit the project as often as desired during the process and the project was handled remotely (due to travel restrictions, as PacTrust is based in Oregon).
Results
Now that the renovations are complete, 9500 Arboretum looks like a recently delivered Class A office building and is performing competitively.
These capital improvements, along with strategic market-ready work to deliver spec suites for lease, have completely repositioned the building. As of this writing, 9500 Arboretum is 97% occupied following 81,495 square feet of leases since the onset of renovations while submarket occupancy remains at 86%.
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