88 / 96
88
/ BUILDING DIALOGUE / MARCH 2017
Granite Park, offered a template. “One of the big features
they had a lot of success with was this ‘corporate living
room,’ ” says Mourer. “It’s really an amenity space for all of
the tenants.”
More than 3,000 square feet in all, it helps shift the office
paradigm.
“You eliminate the typical ‘walk in the front door and go
up the elevator to your space’ mentality,” says Mourer. “You
get out of your office and come down to this space for a
different view.”
Allison Brandt, an architect with Open Studio and lead
on the Granite Place project, says “attention to detail” is a
big differentiator. “That level of finish and detail is really
important to Granite,” she says. “They were willing to put
that extra level of investment into this space.”
Mourer concurs. “Clearly, the discussion has been about
quality, because [Granite] owns it long-term. They don’t
build it and sell it.”
Mourer and Brandt both commend GE Johnson. “We were
able to work as a team through the design process and
tweak things where we needed for the budget,” says Brandt.
“You want a partner who can give you real-time feed-
back,” Mourer says. “We really like their ability to jump in
and really be a partner and look at things we’re not think-
ing of.”
The GE Johnson team feels the same way. “The collabo-
ration between the owner, the owner’s rep and the archi-
tects has been pretty spectacular,” says Mortenson, citing an
exemplary safety record. “I'm a 30-year industry guy and I
think it’s the best team I’ve ever worked with.”
Echoes Parr: “I can’t overstress the amount of support we
get from Confluent and Open Studio and Granite to resolve
issues.
“Our weekly OAC (owner-architect-contractor) meetings
are dry and boring,” he says. “I think that’s a good sign of a
well-run job.”
\\
Granite and Confluent “liked the fact they could have a lot of density in a small footprint.”
/ Granite Place at Village Center: A New Breed of Office /