The Vitruvian Park is the largest redevelopment of its type in the Dallas area.

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The end result is also a far cry from the 1,100 apartments that were demolished to make way for Vitruvian Park, the high-density mixed-use community honored with his name. But still, the end result undeniably bears his influence. Vitruvius, hailed as the world’s first engineer and believed by some to be the first architect, believed a structure must be strong, be useful and still exhibit beauty, all goals of the newly built community. His well-known Vitruvian Man, later drawn by artist Leonardo da Vinci as a human body walled off inside a circle and then encapsulated in a square, also makes its mark on the Vitruvian Park’s design.

Maybe that’s because a body would be hard-pressed to find a reason to leave the walls of Vitruvian Park. Located between LBJ Freeway and Dallas North Toll Road and situated near the Addison and Farmers Branch city lines, residents of the multi-family use community could leave but might not need to. The human-centric format is designed with the pedestrian in mind, encouraging them to walk rather than ride to both work and recreation.

The Savoye, the first phase to be completed, is full of amenities. Sixteen thousand feet of street-level retail space, a health club, an amphitheatre, below- and above-ground parking and a 12-acre park embracing a spring-fed creek provide a luxurious foundation for the 392 apartment homes overlooking it.     Warren Andres, Senior Vice-President of Andres Construction Services, which served as the general contractor and construction manager, says his favorite part of the $52 million project, which is the biggest redevelopment of its type in the Dallas area, was the finishes selected for the interiors for the mostly concrete and wood frame structures.

“It’s very high-finish for a wood frame building, although part of the building is metal studs,” he says.

The project also was developed to adhere to green standards set forth by an Addison town program to promote maximum energy efficiency and reduction of environmental impact.

Very few problems haunted the project, which began construction in 2008. Andres credits the hard work of project superintendent Rodger Harrison and project manager Jared Powell with their hard work and harmonic collaboration with architect WDG Architecture.

“We got involved very early on in this project,” Andres says. “The owner bought the land, and we were on the team with the architect and the land planners. We worked well with the owner, architect and designer as a good team. We even added a fifth floor on the wood frame around the garage to help with the overall cost per square foot.”

And it is a collaboration that will continue to the next phase.

 “There are more apartments to be torn down,” he says. “The owner owns about a 120-acre site. We’re planning a near mirror image of this and a planned future park for the other side.”

Andres Construction Services offers construction management, general contracting, construction consulting, design/build, major renovations, historic restoration, adaptive reuse and program management for commercial construction clients. –mjm