Roxboro at Venable Tops Out in Durham

The Roxboro at Venable. Image courtesy of Duda|Paine Architects

Duda|Paine Architects, designer of The Roxboro at Venable in downtown Durham, N.C., announced that the office project is on the verge of reaching a pivotal point in its development.

Developers Trinity Capital Advisors and SLI Capital will top out on the 202,000-square-foot building tomorrow, Feb. 25, 2021.

READ ALSO: CBRE Backs Industrious in $200M Flex-Office Deal

Sprouting up at the center of downtown Durham, The Roxboro will be part of the mixed-use Venable Center, a revitalized warehouse district that dates back to 1906, when it served as the brick-building warehouse complex for the Venable Tobacco Co. Duda|Paine has designed The Roxboro to serve as a Class A destination for life sciences companies with such features as built-in accommodations for lab infrastructure, higher floor-to-floors, additional mechanical chase space and dedicated back-up power.

“These features address the emergence of life science buildings in the market and a need for space that can easily be a lab building or an office building or a combination of the two,” a spokesperson for Duda|Paine Architects, told Commercial Property Executive.

Duda|Paine designed the 8-story Roxboro well before the COVID-19 health crisis, but the firm handily implemented changes to its original concept to accommodate what will become the new normal. “The entire circulation path through the building from the entrance to the elevators, core areas and restrooms has been modified to make a healthier environment for a post-COVID-19 workplace,” the spokesperson said. “The client wanted the entry and exit process to be as touchless as possible, so several touchless tech systems were integrated.” Touchless tech systems include foot pulls for restroom doors; auto doors at the lobby entry; elevators with a Destination Dispatch system by Otis and ionic air purification technology.

The expediting of a trend

No facet of the commercial real estate industry, architecture included, has gone untouched by the pandemic. Duda|Paine saw a trend that had been emerging before the crisis become more important to clients: health and wellness. “A core expertise of Duda|Paine Architects is design for health and wellness, and we had seen a rise in office projects integrating wellness features such as sky terraces that provide access to the outdoors and fitness facilities even before the pandemic,” the spokesperson added. The Roxboro will feature open-air sky terraces and a ground-level fitness facility to be shared with Venable’s residential apartment dwellers as well.  The Class A office building is on schedule to reach completion in the third quarter of 2021.