Anadarko Petroleum Corporation announced on Feb. 1 what has been rumored since the fall: the construction of a second high-rise office building in The Woodlands.

The 31-story building will be constructed at the corner of Woodloch Forest Drive and Lake Robbins Drive and will include 549,260 square feet. By comparison, the existing Anadarko building on Lake Robbins Drive has 817,977 square feet.

During a Feb. 1 dedication ceremony, Vice President and Chief Information Office Mario Coll said the first 10 floors of the building will be a parking garage and the upper 21 floors will be office space, conference rooms and project floors.

He said the new facility will house 1,700 employees, many of whom will be relocated from other buildings in The Woodlands such as the Woodforest Bank building on Lake Robbins, as well as new jobs. The new building and the current facility will be connected by an air-conditioned passageway.

"This will enable us to bring everyone onto the same campus," Coll said.

Construction on the new tower began on Feb. 14. Land clearing was already underway at the time of the dedication ceremony. Coll said the expected completion date is spring of 2014.

The Patrinely Group is the development manager for the project, while Gensler is the architect and D.E. Harvey is the general contractor. The new tower will be constructed with energy-efficient technology and targeted for LEED certification.

Dean Patrinely said the new facility would be "a state-of-the-art work environment for its employees and one of the rare buildings in Houston that sits on the waterfront."

Caption:

An architectural rendering of the new Anadarko building being constructed in The Woodlands.

Courtesy Anadarko Petroleum Corporation