Making the Campus More Useful Throughout the Workday

Salazar Park already gave employees a place to step outside between the office buildings at Cypress Waters. As workplace expectations changed, Billingsley wanted to build on that investment with amenities that would support its tenants’ efforts to attract people to the workplace and retain talent.

The amenity mix mattered. Meeting and fitness facilities, considered early in the process, would primarily draw people during bookings or before and after work. Billingsley wanted a use that could give people a reason to visit throughout the day.

The program evolved to pair White Rhino Coffee with the Park Room, a communal meeting space. The established North Texas coffee brand offered a familiar destination for everyday visits, while the Park Room provided a place for planned gatherings. Together, the uses were intended to complement the campus and its existing retail destinations.

Adding New Uses While Preserving the Property’s Appeal

For owners improving or repurposing established properties, new uses need to work with the site’s existing infrastructure and the qualities people already value. At Salazar Park, Billingsley wanted to add an amenity while preserving the mature trees, walkways, and landscape that made the campus inviting.

Delivering that vision required careful infill planning. Existing sidewalks, setbacks, and easements constrained the narrow site, while grade changes complicated building placement and pedestrian access. An easement crossing the proposed building location also required resolution with the city before construction could proceed.

Inside, White Rhino’s equipment, food service, customer experience, and operational requirements needed to fit within a compact footprint shared with the Park Room. The challenge was to accommodate a working hospitality business without compromising the landscape, connectivity, and character that made Salazar Park valuable to Billingsley and its tenants.

Turning an Amenity Strategy into a Working Destination

Making the space work for the operator

O’Brien collaborated with White Rhino Coffee to adapt its established operating model to the available space. The interiors team coordinated equipment needs, food preparation, service circulation, and the brand’s customer experience, alongside food-service inspection requirements.

Keeping the landscape part of the investment

The mature trees were central to the park’s appeal. O’Brien worked with contractor McCownGordon to fit construction into the narrow site while protecting the existing landscape.

The team coordinated building access with established sidewalks and grades, incorporating stairs on the west side and ramps on the east. These connections made the new uses accessible from the surrounding park while retaining the setting Billingsley had already created.

For Billingsley, the project showed how a targeted amenity investment could expand an established property’s functionality while preserving the landscape and sense of place that distinguished the campus.

Making the activity visible and the park part of the experience

Billingsley wanted people outside to see what was happening inside. O’Brien used expansive glazing and a curtain wall system to give the coffee shop and Park Room a visible presence along the park.

For the coffee operator, that transparency puts the space and its activity in view of people passing by. For meeting-room users, it brings views of mature cypress and live oak trees into the gathering experience. The Park Room was designed to feel like a room within a grove, giving tenants a setting distinct from their everyday office conference rooms.

Giving the amenity an identity within the larger campus

The small building needed a recognizable presence among the surrounding white office buildings. Working with Billingsley and its art partners, O’Brien developed a mural using a herringbone tile pattern and a gradient of blue tones. The color contrasts with the greenery and relates to the sky, helping the building connect to its setting.

O’Brien explored multiple concepts with Billingsley before developing the final mural, aligning the amenity with the art and attention to place that characterize Cypress Waters.

The same care extended to construction details. Metal panel joints, canopy members, trim, and curtain wall divisions were aligned across the exterior. Coordinating those relationships carried the design intent through the separate building components, giving the project team defined details to execute.