D CEO magazine presented awards in 15 categories at its third annual Commercial Real Estate Awards program, held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum. Here’s a look at those honored in the Best Office Sale category.
Winner: Fountain Place
This past year saw a number of big office trades, including 777 Main and Pier 1 Tower in Fort Worth, and Galleria North Tower I and 1700 Pacific in Dallas. The biggest of them all was Goddard Investment Group’s acquisition of Fountain Place. The 1.2 million-square-foot tower on Ross Avenue is among the most recognizable in the region. Built in 1986 and designed by I.M. Pei, the 58-story skyscraper is known for its blue-green glass exterior and unique “rocket” design. It’s also the largest LEED Gold certified building in the region and one of only three in downtown Dallas. The HFF team of Andrew Levy, Todd Savage, and Elizabeth Malone put the deal together, representing the seller, JPMorgan.
Johnny Johnson with DTZ, who heads up leasing at Fountain Place, says the sale came at a unique time. “The interest from several viable owners was very high,” he says. “Most believed in the opportunity to significantly reinvest in an iconic asset in a big way, in anticipation of the positive turnaround occurring in the Uptown and downtown markets.”
With the acquisition wrapped up, Goddard is now at work on substantial improvements—including adding an adjacent garage to improve the building’s parking ratios. Says Johnson: “They bought the property with absolute intent to significantly redevelop the building in a major way, to further establish Fountain Place as the premier building in not only Dallas but the entire Southwest. They are willing to make a bold move.”
Finalist: 1700 Pacific
The sale of 1700 Pacific was among the most talked-about transactions of 2014. The 49-story tower was also among the year’s largest deals. It marked the first Dallas acquisition for Olymbec Group of Montreal, which beat out a number of other competitors to buy the building. The fierce interest in 1700 Pacific demonstrates the demand that downtown office buildings are seeing. The tower’s location across from the planned Pacific Plaza park was another lure. John Alvarado led the CBRE team that handled the sale.
Finalist: 777 Main
It’s not often that a large-scale transaction like this happens in downtown Fort Worth. And this deal involved two institutional players—in a market that’s defined more by private investors. Formerly known as Carter Burgess Plaza, 777 Main was sold by Cousins Properties to The Brookdale Group for about $167 million. At the time of the sale, the 40-story tower was about 75 percent leased. Andrew Levy led the HFF team that brokered the deal.
Finalist: Galatyn Park
This 800,000-square-foot, four-building campus sits within the Galatyn Park mixed-use development. Three of its buildings are occupied by State Farm, which will begin moving this year to its new campus at CityLine. This will create a big 600,000-square-foot vacancy—in a submarket that’s seeing brisk demand. A fourth building has a long-term lease to Bank of America. The combination of stability and opportunity attracted a number of suitors; Spear Street Capital prevailed. This deal also was brokered by Andrew Levy and his team at HFF.
To read profiles of all 51 winners and finalists, click here.
