Two years after breaking ground, Crescent Real Estate celebrated the grand opening of McKinney & Olive, the 20-story structure offering office and retail space in Uptown Dallas.

Crescent Real Estate chairman and CEO John Goff says that the company has heavily invested in the Uptown area to make Dallas a better place. The opening of McKinney & Olive deepens Crescent's investment and visibility in Uptown, expanding its presence to four major properties spanning approximately 20 contiguous acres.

Those include The Crescent, the mixed-use complex built in 1986 that serves as an anchor and continues its reign as the financial center of the Southwest. The company recently completed a $33 million renovation.

There's also the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas and the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, which Crescent opened in 2007. And in July 2016, Crescent and its affiliates purchased Hotel Crescent Court.

McKinney & Olive is located at 2021 McKinney Ave., on a 3.1-acre site across the street from the Ritz-Carlton. It was designed by architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, whose founder Cesar Pelli dubbed it a "sexy" building, which you might expect since his firm designed it. The building has bold curves, retail space, and a piazza for gatherings.

Building highlights include the two-and-one-half-story grand lobby filled with crystal-clear glass and dramatic Carrara marble extracted from the legendary Italian quarries that Michelangelo once surveyed and prospected. The office floors feature 10-foot ceilings and highly efficient and flexible floor plates.

The corners of the building have been specially designed without supporting columns so that the floor-to-ceiling glass walls offer unobstructed city views up and down McKinney Avenue, over to the Arts District and Klyde Warren Park downtown, and as far as Victory Park.

A customer-only Concierge Floor features a sunlit conference center and a fitness studio designed and equipped by Canyon Ranch. The studio also overlooks a landscaped rooftop terrace.

The one-acre piazza was created by landscape architecture firm the Office of James Burnett, which also designed Klyde Warren Park. It includes green spaces, water features, a fire pit, seating, and two valet parking options for office and retail visitors.

The retail component includes Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, which is already open. More restaurants are coming in 2017, including the Texas debut of two concepts: Doc B’s Fresh Kitchen, a Chicago-based fast-casual concept with food, craft beer, wine, and spirits; and Roti Modern Mediterranean, a fast-casual concept with wraps, rice plates, and salads.

McKinney & Olive is nearly 93 percent leased. Tenants already signed on include law firms Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP and Sidley Austin LLP; real estate giants Cushman & Wakefield and Prologis Industrial REIT; and ad agencies Saatchi & Saatchi and Team One, whose clients include Toyota and Lexus.

Pelli Clarke Pelli has produced international recognizable structures such as World Financial Center in New York, the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, and the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong.