AllianceTexas Scoops Up Another Mega-Tenant

DALLAS—American Specialty Health is one of the newest tenants to take up residence at AllianceTexas, the 26,000-acre master-planned community developed by Hillwood. ASH leased approximately 164,000 square feet of class-A office space in Heritage Commons IV from building owner Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT.

“Heritage Commons IV offers best-in-class, on-site and surrounding amenities, and we are proud American Specialty Health will call our building home,” said Michael Escalante, CEO of GCEAR. “Thanks to the efforts of our partner Hillwood, combined with our ability to quickly execute a re-tenanting strategy, we were able to find a customer for the building, thereby ensuring consistent performance from that property for our REIT investors.”

Previously occupied by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services which recently opened its new Fort Worth Business Center also within AllianceTexas, Heritage Commons IV offers ASH the unique ability to occupy a single-tenant environmentally conscious space. ASH will be fully operational from day one when it opens its doors next month, a key advantage of selecting Heritage Commons IV as its new location. “American Specialty Health continues to grow rapidly and expanding our workforce in Texas is central to our ongoing success,” said ASH co-founder, chairman and CEO George DeVries. “As such, it’s vital we offer our employees an environment that meets the demands of today’s tech-driven workforce and AllianceTexas checks all of the boxes. In addition to the move-in ready building, Heritage Commons IV offers a number of amenities that help reinforce our culture of work-life balance. With access to a talent-rich labor market, a variety of residential options, lifestyle amenities and an established community, our company is poised to grow and thrive in North Texas for years to come.”

Steve Aldrich, senior vice president, and Ian Kinne, marketing manager, of Hillwood represented GCEAR in the transaction. American Specialty Health was represented by Jenny Schreiner and Jon Altschuler of Altschuler and Company.

“Our region has an extensive and impressive list of top-tier health companies and with its cutting-edge healthcare services and new employment opportunities, ASH enhances that list in North Texas,” said Aldrich.

ASH provides musculoskeletal health solutions, fitness and exercise programs, and health management solutions to employer groups, health plans, insurance carriers and others, with the goal of improving member health and bending the healthcare cost curve. ASH covers more than 50 million Americans under its benefits administration programs.

With space to expand, choosing AllianceTexas reaffirms ASH’s commitment to technologically advanced and modern healthcare solutions.

“We appreciated the move-in ready condition of this office building, with plenty of room to grow,” Lisa Freeman, senior manager of public relations and social media for ASH, tells GlobeSt.com. “Also, the new, bigger location in Fort Worth will provide us excellent access to a growing workforce.”

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2019, AllianceTexas has transformed the North Texas economy and connected the area to global industry. Anchored by Fort Worth Alliance Airport, the world’s first dedicated industrial airport, AllianceTexas is home to more than 500 companies which have built more than 45 million square feet and created more than 61,000 jobs. Its estimated cumulative impact for North Texas since 1989 is more than $76 billion.

“Speaking with respect to our office portfolio, we have approximately 65,000 square feet remaining in our leased and managed portfolio at AllianceTexas, so we are about 96% leased,” Aldrich tells GlobeSt.com. “The 65,000 is spread between three different buildings: Hillwood Commons I (15,000), Heritage Commons 2 (35,000) and Alliance Commerce Center 14 (15,000). In the past 18 months, we have transacted a total of approximately 635,000 square feet of office space. We have a very robust office employment at AllianceTexas as well, with almost 20,000 employees once Charles Schwab takes occupancy at Circle T Ranch.”

The DFW office market moved back into positive territory with more than 1 million square feet of positive net absorption in the second quarter of 2019, according to a second quarter report by Younger Partners. This bounce back from the previous quarter was largely the result of several new construction projects being completed including Charles Schwab, Nokia, USAA, Brinker International and Independent Bank.

Still, even with the healthy absorption, new deliveries outpaced demand and the vacancy rate continued to increase moderately as it has during the past few years. Current asking rates are the highest the market has ever posted, surpassing even the previous peaks from prior business cycles, says Younger Partners.

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