Last-Minute Rally Swings 68,000-SF Vote

UICI Insurance Co. has signed an 11-year lease at "aggressive rates" to win a heated race among five prime buildings. The mission for the last six months, Jeff White, principal of Mark Five Commercial Real Estate Inc. in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com was to "get a class A building for a class B price." The mission was successful, with the winner being the Plano Corporate Center II at 2301 W. Plano Parkway, a 154,000-sf office building owned by Lord Baltimore Properties.

White and Mark Five partner, Mike McCartan, represented UICI in a site search that turned up 108 buildings in the Urban Center, Richardson/Plano and nearby sections of the Dallas North Tollway. Even the brokers expressed some amazement at the availability of product, which was parlayed into a bidding war for the tenant's nod.

Lord Baltimore was pitted against a short list with two buildings each in Addison and Richardson. The deal appeared poised for Richardson, but swung to Plano in the final rally. All that White will say about the bottom line is that "it was an aggressive deal."

Other factors that delivered the close included location and the quality of the labor pool in the immediate area, White adds. The plan is to office 350 workers at the location, which will be dedicated to UICI's student insurance division. The team gets about 15,000 sf more space in the up-and-coming move from the Centre at Midway and LBJ Freeway.

Tracy Fults, director in Dallas for Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc., represented the Baltimore-based building owner, whose sole asset in Dallas-Fort Worth is the two-building Plano Corporate Center near the junction of the President George Bush Tollroad and Custer Road.

Finish-out is about ready to start, with move-in set for May, according to White. The firm will occupy all of the top floor and part of the second. The building also is home to Lord Baltimore's office and a DeVry University location.