ZMM project with Remington Development Corporation makes international news

October 12, 2024
ZMM rendering of the office building for Remington Development Corporation, the future home of TC Energy in Charleston, WV

Check out the full story as published in CoStar News.

West Virginia building breaks ground in market starved for new office development

JLL is advising TC Energy on its new project on the Kanawha River in Charleston.

By Andy Peters, CoStar News —- October 9, 2024

In a possible sign the office market is coming back to life, construction recently started on a new office building in Charleston, West Virginia, for an energy pipeline company.

An architect who is working on the project said it’s the first time in years that he’s designed a new office building for a private sector client.

TC Energy, which manages natural gas pipelines, is slated to occupy the $60 million, four-story building at 200 Kanawha Blvd. in downtown Charleston. TC Energy will move from its current office in the Columbia Gas building at 1700 MacCorkle Ave. Construction is projected for completion in November 2026.

The U.S. office market has struggled since the pandemic with many employees maintaining remote and hybrid work schedules. Although new office construction remained solid for most of the post-pandemic era, a decrease in demand has led to a slowdown in new construction, according to CoStar data.

In some U.S. markets, new construction has virtually come to a standstill. No new office space has been completed in the Charleston, West Virginia, market during the past 12 months, according to CoStar data.

“Starts of new buildings have fallen off a cliff in the last year for sure, so it’s true enough that it’s hard to get a new project underway right now,” Phil Mobley, CoStar Group’s national director of market analytics, told CoStar News.

But signs of life in the U.S. office market have emerged in recent months. One positive sign has been lease renewals for large blocks of office space by corporate tenants, including Bank of America and Verizon.

But Adam Krason, principal at ZMM Architects & Engineers, said downtown Charleston hasn’t seen a new office building constructed in about 20 years. ZMM is the design architect for the new TC Energy office.

TC Energy is moving because it wanted a building it controlled and where it would be the only tenant, Krason told CoStar News. The company plans to assign about 450 employees to the new building.

“They wanted their office to remain on the Kanawha River but they also wanted to move to downtown Charleston,” Krason said.

The design resembles TC Energy’s other offices in Houston and Calgary, including a rooftop observation platform, Krason said.

“As far as the actual office layout, it’s fairly traditional,” Krason said.

The Canadian company TC Energy has other needs specific to a provider of energy infrastructure services, Krason said. In addition to the new office, ZMM designed an attached, 18,000-square-foot annex where TC Energy will store and manage infrastructure maintenance equipment.

ZMM has performed work in recent years designing offices for public sector clients, including buildings at the West Virginia state capitol campus and for the West Virginia Lottery at 900 Pennsylvania Ave. For private sector clients, ZMM’s only office work since the pandemic has been renovations, Krason said.

TC Energy’s previous Charleston office building at 1700 MacCorkle Ave. was sold to a developer that plans on converting it into senior living residences, Krason said.

Remington Development acquired the property at 200 Kanawha Blvd. for $5.5 million and demolished the building on site before starting construction for TC Energy’s new office. CASCI, a health insurance claims processor that was the sole tenant at 200 Kanawha Blvd., moved to an office at 5707 MacCorkle Ave.

For the record

Damien Mills, Mason Lam and Deanna Becker at JLL are advising TC Energy on project oversight and corporate interiors. Remington Development is the lead developer, and BBL Carlton is the general contractor.