Veteran CBD Tenant Lines Up New Spot, Signs 80,000-SF Pact

Trammell Crow principal Tony Click and vice president Jon McNeil have signed 170,000 sf in leases since year's start, with deals coming as work wrapped up on a 2 1/2-year, $35-million makeover of the Spire Realty-owned building at 2001 Bryan St. McNeil tells GlobeSt.com that Chubb's 15-year pact is "definitely one of the largest this year" for the Dallas office market. Negotiations got under way in April after Chubb's broker narrowed the relocation search down to Bryan Tower and Renaissance Tower, says McNeil. "It was a difficult transaction, but it was a quick transaction," he says.

The lease makes Chubb the third-largest tenant in the tower, which now features a sky bridge from the office building to its adjacent parking garage. The 28-year-old CBD building also houses Baylor Health-Care Services and Chase Bank. Occupancy is now riding at 71%. "We've still got some room to go," says McNeil, who is confident that more will come knocking on the tower's doors. "It has all the benefits of new space and still at a pricing point that it is very attractive." The office space is being offered at $16.50 per sf to $17 per sf plus electric, rates that significantly undercut the CBD average. But, says McNeil, the strategy is working to attract users to the class A building. He says the renovation was so extensive that would-be tenants and brokers have "had to revisit Bryan Tower. They were amazed at the transformation. Spire definitely had an uphill battle to reposition that building."

When the project began, all but two tenants--Frost Bank and MCI Communications--moved out of the high-rise. Spire has managed the property since the acquisition, which is now under the leasing guidance of its original developer.

Paul Stockard and Sanders Thompson of NAI Stoneleigh's Dallas office represented Chubb in the lease talks. Bryan Tower's new tenant is a familiar face in the downtown. Many brokers knew a large user was looking, but few knew it was Chubb, says McNeil. Chubb is a holding company for a family of property and casualty insurance companies and has 135 offices worldwide, with three in Texas.