Hill & Wilkinson has completed work on the first phase of The Realm at Castle Hills, a $1.5 billion, 324-acre mixed-use development in the master-planned Castle Hills community at State Highway 121/Sam Rayburn Tollway and Josey Lane in Lewisville. It includes Offices at The Realm, a nine-story Class AA office building with 235,000 square feet of office space and 16,000 square feet of restaurant space.
Developer Bright Realty has signed tenants for the property, including Venture X, a coworking company leasing the entire third floor, El Patio, a Mexican/Texas barbecue eatery taking 3,800-square-feet, and a title insurance company leasing 4,000-square-feet.
The new building also houses the headquarters of Bright Industries and its entities, taking up a total of two floors, or 60,742 square feet.
A unique feature of the space is a five-story, Arthurian-themed outdoor mural created by three internationally known muralists. (Check out a video of the mural here).
The developers say the mural is the first of several planned public artworks and is meant to embrace the community’s unique identity with images of jousting knights, dragons, Excalibur, Lady Guinevere, and Merlin.
“Chapter 1: The Threshold,” which reflects the mural’s point of entry into the community, was completed by art curator Lesli Marshall and muralists Drew Merritt and David “Rabi” Torres.
The mural celebrates the history of the community. “One of the most unique aspects of the mural is the integration of sketches by family patriarch ‘Bum’ Bright, whose love of all things King Arthur was the inspiration of the Castle Hills theme,” Marshall said.
Next on the list for public art at The Realm is a painting on the top of the over-sized Lost City of Atlantis aquarium in the lobby and an outdoor interactive fountain similar to The Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas, with water and light shows choreographed to music.
Bright Realty CEO Chris Bright said that office settings today need to provide more than just a place to sit at a desk.
“They need to be experience-driven environments that encourage interaction and enhance not only the workplace setting but offer a respite from the workday with onsite retail, entertainment, green space, public artwork, and a variety of walkable multifamily and single-family products,” he said.
The cast-in-place office building features elements such as limestone masonry, a covered boardwalk, pre-cast panels, metal panels, and a curtain-wall façade.
Phase II of The Realm at Castle Hills, Valor at The Realm, is a 260-unit, five-story, Class A apartment community with restaurant and retail space planned to deliver in the fall of 2020.
Plans also are in the works for a boutique hotel and an outdoor entertainment district.
