DALLAS—Recruiting and retaining talent is critical to the success of any business. And, for a media buying agency, maintaining a collaborative agency culture was one of the key considerations when considering relocation options.

Such was the case with Southwest Media Group, which moved from 2100 Ross Ave. to the 40th floor of Comerica Bank Tower at 1717 Main St., with a lease of 23,933 square feet of space. Comerica Bank Tower is owned by a joint venture of M-M Properties and TriGate Capital LLC. The tower was designed by Philip Johnson and is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious buildings in the market. The building totals 1.5 million square feet and is 60 stories tall, making it a recognizable fixture on the Dallas skyline.

“We needed a confluence of factors to come together for our requirement–the right type of building, the neighborhood amenities, access to DART and the ability to create a modern, forward thinking space for us to create an optimal environment for our employees,” says Eric Schaefer, president of Southwest Media Group. “Fortunately, we were able to check all of the boxes with Comerica Bank Tower.”

The lease was arranged by Mike Silliman, senior vice president–leasing with M-M Properties, the in-house leasing firm for the owner of the building.

“This lease is exciting on a couple of fronts. The team at Southwest Media Group did significant due diligence. They came and walked around the neighborhood–day and night, walked the tunnel connectivity to the DART stop and then were very hands-on in the design of their new space to make sure they were providing the optimal solution for their employees. When someone puts that much personal attention into the process, you can tell they care about their employees and you are honored you had the building they selected,” said Silliman.

This lease comes on the heels of the recent renewal of Comerica Bank's corporate headquarters lease of 222,970 square feet and a new lease with HighGround Advisors of 26,000 square feet. According to Silliman, there are another 40,000 square feet of deals close to being announced.

“It may be early to call it a trend, but we are going to have closed 80,000 square feet of new deals by year-end and all have been attracted by the same combination. Tenants want great walkable amenities around the building. We have 11 hotels, 26 residential buildings, 53 restaurants, four coffee shops, four gyms, one full city block park, two DART stops, all within three blocks of the building,” Silliman tells GlobeSt.com. “We are offering a discount of up to $10 per square foot over the Arts District and a $25 per square foot compared to Uptown rents. When you are talking about a distance in geography of four to five blocks, it is worth a look.”

The building has a Walk Score of 96, providing tenants with a highly walkable amenity base in the Uptown/Arts District/CBD submarkets. Its classic design, location and amenities offer a prestigious corporate address with the tools to recruit and retain talent.

“The tenants at Comerica Bank Tower are all professional service firms, but have largely been legal, accounting and finance oriented. It is great to get a media strategy organization like Southwest Media Group to select our building and build out cool, creative space,” says Joel McCarty, senior vice president with M-M Properties.

Southwest Media Group provides media planning, buying and digital marketing services to clients including Fiesta Restaurant Group, Half Price Books, Dave & Buster's, Dillard's and Texas Health Resources.

Comerica Bank

The lease was arranged by Mike Silliman, senior vice president–leasing with M-M Properties, the in-house leasing firm for the owner of the building.

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Talent Retention Seals the Deal for Agency

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