ENERGY STAR Labeled Building Profile

Three Forest Plaza
12221 Merit Dr Suite 150
Dallas, TX 75251
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Three Forest Plaza, located at 12221 Merit Drive in Dallas, Texas, is a 366,549-rentable-square-foot, 19-story office building developed by Transwestern in 1983. It is currently owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance and managed by Transwestern. Three Forest Plaza is located along Dallas' High Five Interchange, a major freeway interchange that connects interstate 635 and US 75. The High-Five Interchange is the first 5-level stacked freeway interchange in Dallas and was completed in 2005. During the High Five Interchange construction in February 2002, Transwestern assumed management responsibilities at Three Forest Plaza. Transwestern was retained by Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, LLC to develop and implement a strategic plan to reduce energy consumption, improve building aesthetics and tenant service performance, and improve overall building occupancy and systems performance.  When Transwestern commenced property management at Three Forest Plaza, the reported building occupancy was roughly 65 percent. With property utility costs at an all-time high, this was a huge impact on energy expenses for the owner and tenants. Furthermore, because of the construction of the High Five Interchange, there were heightening concerns over occupancy levels dropping even further as tenants became troubled not only with their utility costs but the road construction around Three Forest Plaza. At the height of the High Five construction, occupancy dropped to nearly 63 percent.

Transwestern assigned key management personnel to deliver effective tenant service programs while developing programs to improve building efficiencies and aesthetics. Using EPA's Portfolio Manager, a baseline was established for the project with an energy performance score of 80. Doing this allowed property management to understand the energy consumption compared to similar buildings, track operating costs, and set reasonable targets to reduce consumption along with the associated environmental impacts. Utilizing Transwestern's recommendation, ownership invested in upgrading building equipment with new energy-efficient chillers and variable frequency drives (VFDs). The Senior Chief Engineer had experience in improving efficiencies in prior buildings with reprogramming the computerized energy management system (EMS) and other programs that were implemented at Three Forest. EMS program enhancements and implementations include the increased use of the economizer cycle for maximum outside air use. Lead/lag programs were modified to shed loads among the large equipment. Winter and summer setback programs were implemented to drop the building average temperature set-point in the winter and raise it in the summer during unoccupied hours.  This saved energy without compromising the comfort level of tenants during occupied hours. An optimum start program was added to the main building occupied start schedule. Additional building-specific programs based on the built-up mechanical system were implemented utilizing temperature and pressure re-set modules. The cost to implement these programs was approximately $20,000. The team then installed water meters on cooling towers for evaporation credits on water bills. In addition, power factor correcting capacitors were installed to increase cost savings on electric bills.  

Once these programs were put in place and operating efficiently, an in-house energy audit was conducted. The results of the upgrades are evident--Three Forest Plaza has realized a savings of $50,000 per year and is now approximately 90 percent occupied. It is now home to such tenants as Weaver and Tidwell LLP, Northwestern Mutual, and Baker & O'Brien, Inc. It earned the ENERGY STAR for superior energy performance in 2007 and 2008 with a score of 88. Current energy costs are approximately $2.00 per square foot. 

Furthering our commitment to reduce energy consumption and environmental impacts for the owner and tenants, Transwestern placed the project into the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC's) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification process in October 2009. Operations and maintenance were converted  to green practices and include green cleaning, green landscaping, integrated pest control, recycling, reduced mercury content in lighting, increased outside air, and green construction to name a few. Three Forest Plaza was awarded LEED-EB: OM v2009 certification in December of 2009 with a score of 43.

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Please note: Narrative information in this profile has been provided by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance or a representative of this facility. Other building information was verified and submitted to EPA at the time of application. Building energy performance, operating characteristics, and ownership/management may be subject to change over time.

Building Owner:*
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance

Property Manager:*
Transwestern Properties

Year(s) Labeled (Rating):
2007 (93)
2008 (88)
2009 (85)
2011 (84)
2012 (84)
2013 (86)
2014 (85)
2016 (77)

Facility Type: Office

Total Floorspace: 385509 sf

Year Constructed: 1983

Contract Type: None

Technologies Used:

Stage 1-Recommissioning

Stage 2-Lighting

Stage 3-Load Reductions

Stage 4-Fan Systems

Stage 5-Heating and Cooling Plant

Other Technologies/Strategies