Dive Brief:

• Anthracite Realty Partners and Bennett Benner Partners have selected multinational construction firm Balfour Beatty to build a 25-story office and retail tower in downtown Fort Worth, TX, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
• The 323,415-square-foot building, named Frost Tower after a significant lease commitment from the prominent Frost banking group, will include ground-floor retail shops, a restaurant with a 3,400-square-foot deck overlooking nearby parks, a rooftop garden, and a sky lobby and conference center. The project will also bring 900 additional parking spaces to downtown Fort Worth.
• The contracting giant said it plans to "leverage Lean construction practices and the latest virtual design technologies" to build the tower, which it expects to complete in December 2017.

Dive Insight:

Frost Tower will be the seventh-tallest building in Fort Worth and the first building to exceed 200 feet in the city since 2009. Frost Bank also has named Texas office towers in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

Read Ballew, president of Balfour Beatty’s Texas division, told BusinessWire, "We are honored to play a part in Fort Worth’s growth and are committed to the success of this world-class, landmark facility."

Balfour Beatty said it plans to use North Texas subcontractors and workers on the project when possible. Frost Tower will add to the company's $3-billion, 46-million-square-foot Texas portfolio of commercial real estate work.

The lean construction trend has been gaining traction in the industry, as it encourages faster timetables, higher quality and reduced waste. Virtual design technology, along with BIM, is also emerging as a game-changer for the construction planning process.