East Austin’s latest mass-timber project, is officially underway. Developers broke ground Wednesday on Workbench, a four-story office building at 2422 East Seventh Street that will use the increasingly popular, carbon-capturing building material.
The 50,000-square-foot building on the northwest corner of East Seventh and Pedernales streets will have 5,800 square feet designed for a restaurant tenant and 1,600 square feet for retail. There will be 6,000- and 7,000-square-foot offices on the third and fourth floors, respectively, and one floor of underground parking.
Plans for the project also include outdoor patios and decks on each floor, a facade of custom-corrugated metal panels, and window overhangs that protect offices from direct southern and western sunlight.
Workbench’s structure will be made of cross-laminated and mass timber, an alternative to concrete and steel construction that continues to rise in popularity due to its sustainable and energy-saving attributes and the fact that it often reduces construction time.
Austin architecture firm Dick Clark and Associates, California general contracting and construction firm Swinerton, and Swinerton subsidiary Lindgren Development are partners on the project.
The building has different mechanical systems on every floor, the most efficient way to incorporate them into the mass-timber structure, according to the developers.
Level two, to be occupied by Swinerton, has a traditional system with exposed overhead mechanical equipment. Dick Clark and Associates, Legacy Lighting, Fort Structures, Beck-Reit Commercial Real Estate, and Art and Artisans will occupy level three, which features a raised-access flooring system with a hidden ventilation system.
The first floor will be anchored by Legacy Lighting’s retail and showroom and a restaurant.
Beck-Reit, Legacy Lighting, Fort Structures, and Art and Artisans are also equity partners in Workbench.
Swinerton affiliate Timberlab, the project engineer, will fabricate the cross-laminated timber in its Greenville, South Carolina, facility.
Construction is estimated to be completed in January 2026.
