The Treehouse Memorial City: Newest MetroNational Building Pairs State-of-the-Art Green Technology With Collaborative Design Elements For One-of-a-Kind Office and Meeting Space

HOUSTON, July 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- MetroNational, owner, manager and developer of Houston's Memorial City, announced today the completion and grand opening of a unique concept in a collaborative and sustainable office of the future. The Treehouse – a two-story, 14,700-square-foot structure located at 963 Bunker Hill in Memorial City – is home to all of Memorial City's development activities including master planning, architecture, construction and interior design. The Treehouse combines modern design, innovative technology, and green building principles, serving as a collaborative environment for stimulating inventive ideas between the developer and its partners. True to its name, The Treehouse brings outdoor elements indoors, where creativity flourishes, as MetroNational continues to build its best of class mixed-use development.

The Treehouse is indicative of Houston's forward momentum as one of the top cities to watch in the United States.  According to Forbes magazine, Houston is thriving -- it has an art & culture index of 91, a diversity index of 77.1, a median age of 33 and a net migration in 2011 of 49,820 people.  Memorial City's development and foresight parallels that of Houston's own.  With access to a population of 1.5 million within a 10 mile radius, the mixed-use nature of Memorial City including residential, retail, media, office and hospitality, is prime to become the epicenter of where Houstonians live, work, shop and play and non-Houstonians visit.

The Treehouse serves as a prized office and meeting-space as well as a showroom for current and future Memorial City projects, demonstrating Memorial City's latest design concepts for prospective tenants and the community at large. Additionally, the second level of the space includes an interactive wall, showcasing the history of Memorial City and MetroNational, providing guests with insight into the transformation of the thriving area.

There is no shortage of green elements in The Treehouse, which boasts a geothermal cooling and heating system, daylight harvesting lights that automatically adjust in response to changing levels of natural light, and a green roof complete with solar panels, rainwater collection, wind turbine and a rooftop garden. In addition, wood used for the flooring on the interior of the building was reclaimed from the Old Cotton Concentration Company warehouses in Galveston, while the exterior wood paneling is Machiche wood, harvested from South America. Inside, the design evokes the outdoors with touches including interior columns wrapped in custom-made tree-like woodwork and conference room tables made from tree trunks. The conference rooms, which are called Nests, face a wrap-around balcony that allows for the outer facing windows to be raised similar to garage doors. To ensure accessible collaboration, The Treehouse extends its reach to MetroNational's headquarters building via a steel and wooden bridge, which evokes the sense of an old-fashioned swinging bridge, encouraging team members to visit and work from one of the open offices or to enjoy the common spaces inside or outside of the building. The Treehouse is tracking to receive LEED Platinum certification, the U.S. Green Building Council's highest rating.

As technologically advanced as it is ecologically aware, The Treehouse offers on-demand wireless connectivity, wireless screen sharing, and interactive whiteboards for seamless collaboration.  Monitors in the lobby continuously display media including weather, traffic, and energy-saving metrics for The Treehouse itself. 

"We take pride in being market leaders and adopting advanced environmental standards and practices that demonstrate our commitment to corporate social responsibility. The Treehouse is an inspiring environment that ignites imagination and serves as a creative collaboration center for us and our valued partners," said Glenn Fuhrman, AIA, Vice President of Design & Construction at MetroNational. "We are proud that the Treehouse is a highlight of our continuing sustainability efforts and the company's dedication and emphasis to building for the future."

As one of Houston's largest owners and managers of commercial real estate, MetroNational is committed to being environmentally conscious. The company carefully benchmarks its sustainability initiatives, raising the bar each year in terms of the results for every one of its properties in Memorial City, which has three LEED Certified properties – with the Murphy Building certified LEED Gold in May, and the Nexen Tower and the Cobalt Center certified LEED Silver. In addition, Memorial City is home to six office buildings that have received Energy Star Awards. One of the developer's newest office buildings – the Air Liquide headquarters – which is currently under construction, is pre-certified LEED Silver.

Partners in the development and construction of The Treehouse Memorial City include Acumen Design for concept and design and Studio RED Architects, the Architect of Record. Anslow Bryant Construction is the General Contractor for The Treehouse.

ABOUT MEMORIAL CITY

Memorial City, the city-within-a-city, is a 265-acre mixed-use development located in the heart of the thriving West Houston market. Owned and managed by MetroNational, Memorial City contains 7.6 million square-feet of developed real estate and is a unique blend of Class A office space; retail, luxury midrise apartments, chef-inspired restaurants, upscale hotel accommodations including The Westin Memorial City; and the Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center, the second largest medical campus in the Houston metropolitan area.  Additional information can be found by visiting www.memorialcity.com and www.memorialcitymall.com.

ABOUT METRONATIONAL

MetroNational is a privately-held real estate investment, development, and management company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Each MetroNational property – spanning office, retail, healthcare, restaurant and hospitality, and land development - fully integrates MetroNational's best-of-class services, providing the highest quality and enduring value. The company, which was founded in 1954, owns and manages more than 8.5 million square feet of commercial real estate properties primarily located in greater Houston. MetroNational's largest development is Memorial City located in west Houston. Additional information can be found by visiting www.metronational.com.

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SOURCE MetroNational