Tenable anchors tech-oriented vision for Merriweather District

Officials broke ground Monday morning on part of a new development that’s looking to bring more tech to downtown Columbia.
The Merriweather District, located in downtown Columbia just north of the concert pavilion with which it shares a proper name, was previously announced as the new home of the headquarters of Tenable. In 2019, the cybersecurity company will be moving into five floors of a new 12-story office building where construction is now starting.
It means Tenable, whose officials had said it would need new space, won’t be moving far. And a big tenant with hundreds of employees was key for the development, which is being branded as a “hub of technology and innovation.”
“The Merriweather District represents the future of Maryland’s tech evolution, and as the future home of Tenable’s new headquarters, it also means hundreds of new jobs right here in Columbia,” Governor Larry Hogan said.
The building will join two other mixed-use office buildings, and is part of a development by the Howard Hughes Corporation with room for retail and office space, 2,300 residences, a 250-room hotel and a park. The company said 10 percent of the development is either under construction or completed.

#MerriweatherDistrict groundbreaking with @HowardHughesCo @STEERTechLLC @TenableSecurity @GovLarryHogan & @AKittleman pic.twitter.com/74BpqkxPsJ

— BWI Partnership (@BWIPartner) April 30, 2018

The development is also taking steps to integrate technology into the neighborhood itself. On Monday, the company said it plans to integrate self-parking technology. It will feature devices made by STEER that makes autonomous parking possible for cars that are not already self-driving.
The Howard Hughes Corporation also has plans to attain LEED Neighborhood Development v4 certification, which is the highest standard for green construction.
Coupled with the Gateway Innovation District planned around Columbia Gateway Drive, it seems Columbia is looking to prove that the idea of creating dense “live-work-play” areas doesn’t have to be limited to cities.