Gardere Wynne Sewell re-upped early on a corporate headquarters lease, which was expanded several times over since the 1996 move into the 1.5-million-sf, class A tower at 1601 Elm St., Helen Rivero, director of asset management for Dallas-based Macfarlan Real Estate Investment tells GlobeSt.com. The new pact takes effect immediately.
Every building owner in the Dallas CBD's stock of class A and trophy properties presumably was part of the chase, which got underway in March. Details, the bulk of which are being kept under wraps, provide for tenant improvements in 2004 or after, but the coup came with a lock-in through Dec. 31, 2016, Rivero says. And, it's a flat deal not stair-stepped as has been so common with this year's transactions.
Gardere Wynne Sewell occupies some of the 23rd floor and full floor plates for 24 through 30 of the 50-story tower. The firm, founded in 1909, employs more than 300 attorneys in 40 practice areas. Aside from Dallas, there are offices in Austin, Houston, Mexico City and Washington, DC.
The closing keeps Thanksgiving Tower at an occupancy of about 88.2% and closes out the 2003 renewal season for the downtown high-rise. Rivero says close to 10 renewals, shoring up about 410,000 sf, have been signed, sealed and delivered so far this year. The building's quoted rate is $18 per sf to $21 per sf.
Macfarlan acquired the building in 1999 in partnership with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund III. Macfarlan is the on-site manager and Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners is the leasing agent. Stream's Jon Altschuler and Rivero were negotiating against a Staubach team that consisted of Jeff Ellerman, Matt Coit and Elysia Ragusa, the firm's president and COO.
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