IRVING, TX-The Archon Group's headquarters in the Las Colinas Urban Center is on the market, action reportedly jumpstarted by the seller's promise to stay put in about 100,000 sf for the next five years. It is the fifth trophy office building in the Dallas area to make an owner's “to go” roster.

An investment sales source tells GlobeSt.com that the rash of trophy buildings now up for sale is definitely not a fire sale and not a sweet spot for bottom fishers. It's a negotiating marketplace just for the well-heeled investment community. The lookers reportedly are plentiful and the starting prices hushed.

Archon, a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, and the Whitehall Funds co-own 600 Las Colinas Blvd., a 510,000-sf, 22-story structure that's 83% occupied. Its lead tenant, JPI, also headquarters in its 118,000 sf.

The Credit Suisse First Boston team of Jack Minter, managing director, and John Alvarado, director, holds the listing. Packages are to go out in the coming week to the nation's leading buyers. Alvarado did tell GlobeSt.com that preliminary interest is running high. “This is only one of a few trophy buildings in the market. It has long-term tenants and qualities that are attractive to institutional-type investors,” he says.

The 18-year-old high-rise was set to go to market a couple months ago, but Archon's unsettled lease stalled the plan. The details were critical for would-be buyers' reviews. With the deal done, the anticipation is Archon's headquarters will be under contract by the end of June. And while the marketing team does its job, Ted Headings of Grubb & Ellis Co. will be doing his: boosting the occupancy with a few deals now in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, the region's sales pipeline has two of the five available premier properties already under contract or close to it. GlobeSt.com's confidential source says 5950 Sherry Lane's Holliday Fenoglio Fowler team has secured $197 per sf while CB Richard Ellis is close to signing a $200-per-sf buyer for 2100 McKinney. Owned by Blackstone Partners of New York City, the 5950 Sherry Lane, built in 1999, totals 197,997 sf. The 2100 McKinney, owned by the Crow Holdings and Westbrook, is a 357,691-sf high-rise that's also a 1999 product.

The 600 Las Colinas Blvd., positioned on the edge of the picturesque Lake Caroline, would be left to compete with the JPMorgan Chase Tower at 2200 Ross Ave. and Premier Place, another Archon holding. Lend Lease Real Estate Investments put 2200 Ross Ave. on the market about three months ago. The more than 1.2-million-sf high-rise is better known as the home for Trammell Crow Co. and CSFB. Reportedly to avoid conflicts, the seller chose Eastdil Realty to hawk the 15-year-old, Trammell Crow-developed property.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler won the listing contract for Premier Place, a 395,901-sf holding along Central Expressway. It was built in 1986 by Rosewood Development Co.

The present-day selling scenario isn't anything new for the Dallas skyline, long a favorite with the institutional clique. In 1997, three maybe four trophy properties traded and a year later another followed suit. Today's activity, the insider stresses to GlobeSt.com, is evidence there is “a lot of investor capital looking for core or trophy assets that are very well leased to quality tenants. You can bet there are some bottom fishers out there, but none of these buildings are going to go to bottom fishers.

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Another DFW Trophy Hits Market

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