Waterline Part 1: Scaling Partnership on Texas' Tallest Tower

One Partner, Five Scopes: Scaling Partnership at Waterline

At 74 stories and 1,025 feet, Waterline in downtown Austin is the tallest building in Texas. It holds three projects in one tower: a 251-room 1 Hotel, about 700,000 square feet of office space, and Bosque Residences on the top 33 floors. We partnered with DPR Construction on electrical, fire alarm, low voltage, DAS, and lighting fixtures through Power Design Resources (PDR).

In this three-part series, we go inside the project. Part 1 looks at the partnership that made that scale manageable. Take a look:

Bigger than it looks:

The tower was run as three projects at once, with separate teams for hotel, office, and residential. And the challenge wasn't only vertical.

"Scale-wise, everyone's going to talk about the verticality, but I have to remind people that we're essentially building something on the size of a football field."

– Ethan Smith, Superintendent, DPR Construction

One partner, five scopes:

Some owners and GCs see one partner carrying many scopes as a risk. On Waterline, it worked the other way.

"Being able to own so many scopes... is something that some ownership in GC groups may see as a liability or as a risk, but it has only made us stronger... We own everything. So it's our responsibility from beginning to end to make sure that the client's expectations are fulfilled."

– Walter Naranjo Jr., Project Manager, Power Design

For DPR, that meant less back-and-forth between companies.

"...there's so much coordination and communication that happens internally when you choose a partner like Power Design that it removes a lot of that dialogue..."

– Ethan Smith, Superintendent, DPR Construction

From the field to the office, our teams stayed aligned through what Walter described as "a positive feedback loop amongst our VDC team, our field team, and our PM team."

Scaling from within:

Labor planning for a job this size starts years out. But Waterline changed constantly, so Walter's team leaned on our field development leadership and project executives to bring in the right people as needs shifted.

"...we went through so much change... where the facade basically looks the same, but the interior has completely been revamped throughout the project duration. And so it was very much a proactive and reactive approach where we were anticipating needs as they came... to ensure that they knew what was coming and we'd have the proper resources to be able to tackle it together."

– Walter Naranjo Jr., Project Manager, Power Design

Trust comes first:

"So I think a big part of it is trust. And so obviously that's not earned or given on day one... getting that point where everyone trusts one another is easily the most important and critical step."

– Ethan Smith, Superintendent, DPR Construction

Ahead of schedule:

"All areas of the building are operational right now and ahead of schedule. And so we were able to deliver this thing almost before they were ready for it."

– Ethan Smith, Superintendent, DPR Construction

His summary of the partnership: "Power Design is definitely best in class and above expectations."

In Parts 2 and 3, we'll go inside the scopes themselves and the work that brought Waterline to life.