Worth & Associates’ Northside Inwood Village II office development lands first tenant

Local office developer Worth & Associates recently landed its first tenant for its Inwood Village II, a 74,265-square-foot, two-story class A office building currently under construction at 2806 WestBitters Road, just south of Loop 1604. Engineering and construction firm KCI Technologies, based in Sparks, Maryland, will take up 23,000 square feet of the building when construction is completed in May. Despite the turmoil that the overall office market is experiencing, developers like Worth have pushed ahead with constructing smaller, higher-quality office space that draws potential tenants in with better amenities and scenic locations.

Construction costs weren’t disclosed, but in an interview with theBusiness Journal, Worth Vice President of Development Chad Case characterized it as costing “more than it has in the past.” Lease lengths are also not public, but Worth’s promotional materials for the building lists the lease rate at $25.50 NNN. According to Vice President of Leasing Rob Gish, getting KCI to commit to a lease in the building took several years of relationship building and waiting for the right time to approach them.

“When we heard that they were out in the market, we approached their representation and made them aware of several options we had, including Inwood Village II, and started the dialogue that way,”Gish said.

He also said that on top of KCI’s 30% occupancy of the building,25-30% of the building’s space would be designated for smaller tenants who want to be able to move into a space quickly.

“Our desire is to construct speculative, move-in ready office suites ranging from 1,200 square feet to 3,100 square feet, which allow tenants of that size — once the spaces are complete — the ability to quickly occupy a space when they’re in the market,” Gish said.

The rest of the building will be for tenants ranging from 5,000square feet to about 16,000 square feet. When asked about the company’s office development outlook for the rest of the year, Senior Vice President of Leasing andAcquisitions Shawn Gulley acknowledged the current small market for building offices, speculative or otherwise.

“I think everybody’s cautiously optimistic,” Gulley said. “You’ve got to keep an eye on increasing costs and increasing interest rates going forward. We’ve got several projects that are teed up and ready to go, so I think we’re in as good a position as anybody to kick off future development.”

The building sits next to Inwood Village I, the first phase of the Inwood Village business park, which the firm delivered in 2019. The team started building Inwood Village II late last year. Shell construction is expected to finish in late May, with the interior finish-out of KCI’s space slated for completion in June.

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