Last Night's TOBY Awards!
Fort Worth's Burnett Plaza was the big winner of the TOBY International Awards last night, and we mean big—the 40-story tower tops 1M SF and is the tallest building between Fort Worth and San Diego. (You'd have an unobstructed view to the west if it wasn't for those pesky mountains in the way.) The ceremony capped off the three-day BOMA Every Building Conference and Expo in Orlando.
We snapped Behringer Harvard's Allison Millington, BOMA/Fort Worth prez Melissa Graham of Cousins Properties, and BOMA/Fort Worth exec director Michelle Lynn flanked by Kimberly-Clark's Jamie Britton, Parmenter's Steve Harrison, BOMA outgoing chair Rich Greninger of Carr Properties, and Allison's seven-year-old twins Grant and Bryce. Not to be outdone by its neighbor, Dallas' Premier Place (owned by CPUS Premiere Place LP and managed by CBRE) stole the show in the renovated building category. Other Sunbelt winners: the Arizona Game and Fish Building in Phoenix was named the best government building, Atlanta's Hurt Building won the historical building category, and Pearland Medical Plaza (from the Houston metro) is this year's best MOB.
BOMA/New Jersey got to celebrate two victories last night. Here's the Wyndham Worldwide and local BOMA team celebrating for 22 Sylvan Way, which won best corporate facility. Wyndham also fully occupies the 250k SF building, which was the first building in NJ to earn double LEED Silver certs. It's owned by Mack-Cali and co-managed by Premier Facility Services. Over in the industrial office category, Raritan Center Business Park shone brightest. It's comprised of 62 buildings totaling nearly 8M SF and is owned and managed by Federal Business Centers. Its 180 tenants benefit from public space that shows off the on-site wetlands and parks.
BOMA/Greater Los Angeles also snagged two winners—Constellation Place in the Earth category and Colorado Center among suburban mid-rises. Here, the local org and Constellation Place's team (including management company JMB Real Estate Services) celebrate the 775k SF, Class-A tower, where emissions dropped 26% in four years. Pulling out a third victory for California, Sacramento's Gateway Oaks IV was named the best building under 100k SF.
We're noticing a trend here—the Windy City also went home with two TOBYs. We snapped BOMA/Chicago's Michael Cornicelli and CBRE's Teresa Amaro and Deb Gallet accepting the award for 250 South Wacker, which won for the 100k to 249,999 SF category. The building is nearly 60 years old, but no one would guess (it's like Meryl Streep), thanks to a $36M renovation from '06 to '08. (Also, MillerCoors takes up 68% of the building, so we imagine everyone's got beer goggles on.) Moving up a step, Rolling Meadows landmark Atrium Corporate Center won the 250k to 499,999 SF award. Two more Midwest winners: Missouri's Delmar Gardens was named best low-rise suburban office park, and Minneapolis' US Bancorp Center was dubbed best building from 500k to 1M SF.
