Harpeth Commons is a complex of six office buildings built in the 1980s and 1990s in Brentwood, TN. Although Brentwood is an affluent submarket with high barriers to entry, the buildings were largely commodity product amidst a sea of parking, adjacent to mostly indistinguishable competitors. Meanwhile, it was starting to face new competitors featuring walkability and significant retail offerings.

Highwoods, which owns five of the six buildings, hired Red Propeller to facilitate an envisioning session and develop recommendations for how to overhaul the buildings so they stood out and competed on the basis of something more than just location and value.

Reimagining the property

Red Propeller started by digging into the context of the property, which was known at the time as Harpeth on the Green. This context included area demographics, housing, retail, parks and recreation, schools, transportation, employment, the office market in general, and the competitive set of office properties.

At the envisioning session, we presented our findings; facilitated an expert panel discussion on such issues as perception of the submarket and property, the competitive set, and the current and potential audience for the area; and conducted exercises that resulted in a focused vision and implications for the project. After the session, we refined the vision and built out detailed recommendations to bring the vision to life throughout the property.

A collection of boutique buildings

The resulting vision for Harpeth Commons was to create a collection of boutique buildings that each find distinctive ways to evoke the classic style of surrounding Brentwood neighborhoods, updated with contemporary touches, and connect to each other via a string of appealing pedestrian pathways through a natural landscape. Based on this vision, Red Propeller developed experience pillars and detailed ideas for the arrival experience, circulation, landscaping and parks, building exteriors, lobbies, art, brand identity, and more. HASTINGS Architecture then worked with Highwoods to carry the reimagined property through to fruition.

The result is a collection of distinctive, compelling offerings worthy of Brentwood.