DEVELOPING
FOR THE FUTURE
FEBRUARY 2023
DEVELOPING
FOR THE FUTURE
FEBRUARY 2023
PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
INTERIOR INSPIRATIONS
For more than 30 years, KDC has proudly been a leading developer of some of the nation’s most remarkable corporate office projects from Liberty Mutual and JPMorgan Chase to Toyota Motor North America headquarters. Most of the time, you only see the building’s exterior elements or other core and shell features. However, if you take a peek into the upscale offices for projects like Baylor Scott & White, Sammons, Fluor, and State Farm at Park Center, you’ll see that each workplace is custom designed to heighten corporate identity, improve productivity, create an engaging workplace and boost employee recruitment and retention.
A great example is Baylor Scott & White’s interior workplace featuring an open floor plan designed to encourage collaboration and enhance communication. Regardless of where employees gather to work, the clerestory windows allow light to penetrate the floor plates, making access to light and air a priority no matter where you are throughout the 300,000-square-foot space. This new workspace ensures all staff can enjoy the abundant sunlight, greenspace and connectivity that comes with ease of motion in a horizontal building. Inside State Farm at Park Center, common areas feature casual collaboration spaces for impromptu meetings, as well as town hall spaces to bring everyone together.
KDC creates interior spaces designed to improve company culture and connect employees with an experiential environment that is rich in amenities. The ongoing trend of flight-to-quality is real and has been amplified by the pandemic as corporate leaders find bringing workers back to the office includes providing a Class A office workplace that is highly amenitized with more health, safety and wellness features. Additionally, they’re looking for an urban walkable location, elevated food services, break-out spaces and large central cafes. The office of today will inspire and engage the next generation.
CORPORATE PROFILE
TOBY GROVE
President, KDC
What are you most proud of professionally?
The culture that we have created at KDC over the last 30 years, and how that has guided everything we try to do.
What’s at the top of your bucket list?
I have always wanted to travel to all 7 continents – my family is traveling to Africa this summer and working on the logistics and scheduling of Antarctica next.
What’s your favorite book and why?
Anything by Ken Follett, but if I had to pick a single book it would be one of the Kingsbridge Series novels, starting with Pillars of the Earth, which tells the story of a Prior and his mason-turned-architect as they attempt to build the greatest gothic cathedral in the medieval world. I find well-researched and written historical fiction incredibly interesting and entertaining and have always thought that Ken Follett is the master.
What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?
Without a doubt, the best decision I have ever made was marrying my wife, Dawn. She has been my rock, providing support and encouragement throughout all of the ups and downs of life.
What phrase do you say most frequently?
There is not a lot of traffic on the high road.
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Sitting Down with Marsha Williamson of Dallas 24 Hour Club
In 2018, KDC opened the doors of the new-and-improved Dallas 24 Hour Club, a nonprofit organization providing transitional living, support services and essential life skills for homeless alcoholics and addicts, so they can embrace long-term sobriety and become contributing and self-supporting members of the community. CEO Steve Van Amburgh and other KDC staff kicked off the project by calling industry friends for support, and in no time, a development team and new facility plans were in place. Dallas 24 Hour Club went from a dilapidated, unsafe, 100-year-old building to a new 14,000-square-foot facility in the heart of Dallas.
This project also served as the official start of KDC using its development expertise, project management skills and industry relationships to help local nonprofits build new facilities.
To mark the five years since Dallas 24 Hour Club opened its new facility, we decided to check in with Marsha Williamson, the organization’s CEO, to hear more about their great work and how we can all get more involved.
In 2018, KDC opened the doors of the new-and-improved Dallas 24 Hour Club, a nonprofit organization providing transitional living, support services and essential life skills for homeless alcoholics and addicts, so they can embrace long-term sobriety and become contributing and self-supporting members of the community. CEO Steve Van Amburgh and other KDC staff kicked off the project by calling industry friends for support, and in no time, a development team and new facility plans were in place. Dallas 24 Hour Club went from a dilapidated, unsafe, 100-year-old building to a new 14,000-square-foot facility in the heart of Dallas.
This project also served as the official start of KDC using its development expertise, project management skills and industry relationships to help local nonprofits build new facilities.
To mark the five years since Dallas 24 Hour Club opened its new facility, we decided to check in with Marsha Williamson, the organization’s CEO, to hear more about their great work and how we can all get more involved.
In 2018, KDC opened the doors of the new-and-improved Dallas 24 Hour Club, a nonprofit organization providing transitional living, support services and essential life skills for homeless alcoholics and addicts, so they can embrace long-term sobriety and become contributing and self-supporting members of the community. CEO Steve Van Amburgh and other KDC staff kicked off the project by calling industry friends for support, and in no time, a development team and new facility plans were in place. Dallas 24 Hour Club went from a dilapidated, unsafe, 100-year-old building to a new 14,000-square-foot facility in the heart of Dallas.
This project also served as the official start of KDC using its development expertise, project management skills and industry relationships to help local nonprofits build new facilities.
To mark the five years since Dallas 24 Hour Club opened its new facility, we decided to check in with Marsha Williamson, the organization’s CEO, to hear more about their great work and how we can all get more involved.
KDC INSIGHT
NEW YEAR, NEW FOCUS!
What’s in a word? Quite a lot if you sit back and really think about it. We asked the KDC team members to give us their 2023 focus words. Based on the responses, we see a great year ahead. Send us your 2023 focus word at marketing@kdc.com!
HAVE YOU HEARD?
In this fifth episode of CREdible Talk, hosts Aarica Mims and Eric Hage welcome back Balfour Beatty Texas Division President Pleas Mitchell, Jr. While the previous episode focused on 2022, the group broke out the crystal ball to discuss what is ahead in 2023. They talk about the role of artificial intelligence on the job site, along with “how green is green enough in the world of sustainability?” A mystery is solved at the end of this episode when Pleas reveals the origin of his name.