The industrial and office sectors continue to see strong leasing demand with companies expanding in or entering the North Texas market. Small, medium, and large industrial properties are attractive, real estate experts say. “The industrial occupiers are focused not only on finding the right building, but making sure they’re in an area with a good labor pool so they can adequately staff the facility,” says George Curry, executive vice president of JLL.
Maps are provided by CBRE.
ON-THE-GROUND INSIGHTS
“The exponential growth of flexible space is the biggest trend I’m seeing. The long-term impact on investors offering direct space for lease is still unclear. Many landlords have a positive outlook and view flexible-space operators as partners who offer ‘plug-and-play’ solutions for smaller users who could grow into larger space in the building.”
— Shannon Brown, Senior Vice President, CBRE
“The emergence of coworking space provided by landlords and third-party coworking providers has allowed corporate occupiers to plan their space utilization to higher occupancies. When there may be a demand beyond capacity, the overflow can be accommodated by the coworking spaces within the same building. This has put a higher premium on properties that provide coworking options.”
— Chris Joyner, Executive Vice President, Fischer
“Accessibility to quality labor is one of the biggest items influencing industrial leasing in North Texas. The industrial occupiers are focused not only on finding the right building, but making sure they’re in an area with a good labor pool so they can adequately staff the facility.”
— George Curry, Executive Vice President, JLL
“Strong consumer demand and new product deliveries will continue to fuel North Texas leasing activity in the second half of the year. The region’s consistent population growth will keep consumer demand high, while new deliveries are expected to top 30 million square feet in 2019.”
— Brett Owens, Principal/Managing Director, Transwestern
LARGEST OFFICE LEASES
1. UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC.
SIZE: 618,000 square feet
LOCATION: Dallas
TENANT REPS: CBRE’s Phil Puckett, John Ellerman, and Harlan Davis
LEASING AGENTS: CBRE’s Dennis Barnes, Tommy Nelson, and Ben Davis represented owner Westdale Real Estate Investment
DETAILS: The transportation technology giant will take 90 percent of a second planned tower at The Epic mixed use development in Deep Ellum, totaling 450,000 square feet in Q4 of 2022. Prior to that, Uber will occupy 168,000 square feet in the existing Epic tower covering seven floors. It’s all part of a two-step, multi-year move-in process for Uber.
1. TENET HEALTHCARE
SIZE: 372,000 square feet
LOCATION: Dallas
TENANT REPS: Younger Partners’ Kathy Permenter and Moody Younger
LEASING AGENTS: Cushman & Wakefield’s Chris Taylor, Trey Smith, Matt Schendle, and Lauren Napper
DETAILS: The hospital company will occupy the entire International Plaza I off the Dallas North Tollway in Dallas under a long-term lease, moving from its previous headquarters location in Fountain Place in downtown Dallas.
2. AMERICAN SPECIALTY HEALTH INC.
SIZE: 164,000 square feet
LOCATION: Fort Worth
TENANT REPS: Altschuler and Co.’s Jenny Schreiner and Jon Altschuler
LEASING AGENTS: Hillwood’s Steve Aldrich and Ian Kinne
DETAILS: The Indiana-based healthcare company has leased space in the Heritage Commons office complex near Interstate 35W in the AllianceTexas development in North Fort Worth. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services previously occupied that office space before moving to a new building.
3. RIBBON INC.
SIZE: 107,000 square feet
LOCATION: Plano
TENANT REPS: CBRE’s Baron Aldrine, Steve Rigby, and Layne Mayfield
LEASING AGENTS: Transwestern’s Nathan Durham and Duane Henley
DETAILS: The cloud communications software firm signed a deal to lease 107,000 square feet of office space at the Legacy Central campus. The company will consolidate several DFW-area locations at the new space, as well as an on-site research and development lab and customer support center. Ribbon said it expects to move in early in 2020.
4. ORIX USA
SIZE: 100,000 square feet
LOCATION: Dallas
TENANT REPS: Colliers International’s Travis Ewert and Jihane Boury
LEASING AGENTS: Stream Realty Partners
DETAILS: The U.S. subsidiary of the Japan-based financial services firm Orix Corp., has signed a lease for 100,000 square feet of office space at Trammell Crow Center on Ross Avenue in the Museum District of downtown Dallas. Orix USA plans to move 300 workers there in 2020 from its current location at Comerica Bank Tower, less than a mile away.
5. AIMBRIDGE HOSPITALITY
SIZE: 75,000 square feet
LOCATION: Plano
DETAILS: The company has taken 75,000 square feet of office space in Cawley Partners’ HQ53 office building in Plano’s Legacy business park. Construction on the building is expected to begin in September. Aimbridge, the nation’s largest independent hotel investment and management firm, will locate its hotel support center in the building that is expected to open in 2020. Aimbrige is moving its headquarters to Legacy Town Center nearby.
LARGEST INDUSTRIAL LEASES
1. CALLAWAY GOLF CO.
SIZE: 783,465 square feet
LOCATION: Fort Worth
TENANT REP: CBRE’s Steve Berger
DETAILS: The California-based sporting goods company is nearly quadrupling its national distribution center with a new warehouse lease for a speculative industrial building called Alliance Center North 3 on North Beach Street in the AllianceTexas development of North Fort Worth. The shipping hub will open early next year and
reportedly will add a significant number of jobs.
2. UNITED NATURAL FOODS
SIZE: 589,870 square feet
LOCATION: Lancaster
TENANT REP: Savils
LEASING AGENTS: CBRE’s Kacy Jones and John Hendricks
DETAILS: The Providence, Rhode Island-based national distributor of natural, organic, and specialty foods has renewed and expanded its lease at Park 20/35 Building 2, at 2100 Danieldale Road in Lancaster.
3. EXPEDITORS INTERNATIONAL OF WASHINGTON INC.
SIZE: 180,000 square feet
LOCATION: Irving
TENANT REPS: Fischer & Co.’s Jeff Kernochan
and David Ginther
LEASING AGENT: Cushman & Wakefield’s Kurt Griffin, Nathan Orbin, and David Eseke
DETAILS: The company leased the space in Liberty Park GSW North Building 2 at 951 Valley View Lane in Irving. Expeditors is a global logistics company based in Seattle.
4. GULF RELAY
SIZE: 134,000 square feet
LOCATION: Coppell
TENANT REPS: JLL’s Chris Stout and Elizabeth Jones
DETAILS: The logistics firm agreed to a 134,000-square-foot sublease at 330 South Royal Lane, where it is backfilling space vacated by Panasonic after it relocated some of its operations.
5. REHRIG PACIFIC CO.
SIZE: 127,000 square feet
LOCATION: Dallas
TENANT REP: JLL’s Craig Jones
LEASING AGENT: Holt Lunsford Commercial’s Canon Shoults
DETAILS: Rehrig Pacific renewed its lease at 613-625 Mockingbird Lane in Dallas. The company makes and delivers plastic pallets and containers serving the agriculture, bakery, beverage, dairy, and materials-handling industries.
