Mortenson, in partnership with the City of Tempe, Urban Development Partners, PGIM Real Estate, among others celebrated the topping out of The Beam on Farmer today. The five-story, 184,000-square-foot office building, located in the heart of downtown Tempe, is the first in the state to feature exposed Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) construction as the primary structural system.

Key stakeholders and dignitaries from the city of Tempe and commercial real estate community, project partners and team members gathered at The Beam on Farmer, located at 401 S. Farmer Ave., to celebrate the topping out, a ceremonial milestone marking the placing of the highest structural beam in a building under construction. Mortenson and their CLT fabricator, Holzpak, in addition to other key trade partners, celebrated this achievement with a ceremony and safety breakfast. Having worked 68,697 hours since groundbreaking, without a single injury, workers were recognized for their commitment to a safe project site and Mortenson announced its plans to move to its Arizona operations to the building, upon opening this summer.

READ ALSO: Most Admired Companies of 2021: Mortenson

“Mortenson, along with our trade partners, continue to make incredible progress, in bringing this new office to the Tempe community,” said George Forristall, director of real estate development at Mortenson. “Thank you to all of our partners, including the City of Tempe, PGIM Real Estate, Urban Development Partners and RSP Architects, among all of our trade partners involved, for supporting this project and bringing our vision to life. We are eager to call The Beam on Famer home and move to the Tempe community, offering our team and other tenants a one-of-a-kind, healthy building experience.”

Entering the market at a time where employee confidence in a clean, safe, and healthy work environment is essential, The Beam on Farmer is uniquely positioned to deliver one of the healthiest office building environments in Arizona. It will offer higher air quality and a contactless user experience, among other sustainable features. The Beam on Farmer will feature a flexible office design and unique creative environment – and is adjacent to numerous attractions and amenities in Tempe.

The CLT process utilizes young trees and combines layers of natural timber for an eco-friendly building approach and creates zero waste. Once the wood is installed, the building will sequester almost 2600 metric tons of carbon. Scrap material from CLT production is also used to create other products or biofuel.

Some interesting facts about the construction, building and project team’s contributions to date include:

• 194 CLT columns; 1,170 CLT beams; 893 CLT decks were used to create the structure, weighing in at more than 4.5 million pounds

• 79 shipping containers were used to bring the building materials from Austria to the project site

• The natural interior will feature 13’ exposed wood ceilings, 40,000-square-foot open floorplates

• Under Floor Air Distribution (UFAD) system will provide best-in-class air quality and energy efficiency

• An adjacent parking garage will feature a 4/1,000 parking ratio

• Locationally, the office will have direct access to the Loop 202 freeway and has a Walk Score of 78

• The project team has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, contributed to raising donations for Southwest Human Development and given back to the neighborhood in several ways

Completion of The Beam on Farmer is anticipated in July 2022. Mortenson, in partnership with Urban Development Partners, is developing the project and the firm is the design-builder, with RSP architects, the designer. The Phoenix office of JLL is the building’s exclusive leasing broker.