Hillwood, Bell Helicopter Craft Landmark, Long-Term Lease

The deal is starting with a 15.5-year lease for a 160,897-sf facility, with expansion capability for another 50,000 sf, and opens the door for spin-off real estate development for retail, hotel, industrial and office. "We think there's a lot more that Bell Helicopter and Hillwood can do together than just the building that they have here," Robert O. Alter, group vice president for Hillwood Properties, tells GlobeSt.com.

Beginning next month, Bell will start a phased move of the 300-employee commercial business unit and Bell Training Academy from the corporate campus in Hurst, about 20 miles to the southeast, to an Alliance Airport building emptied in September by Gulfstream, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics Inc. The move will be completed in the second quarter.

Alter says the incoming Bell division for sales, marketing and training will result in as many as 100 international visitors coming in weekly to the facility. The mix will run the gamut from shoppers to mechanics and set the stage for a full-scale commercial platform in a fly-in, fly-out scenario.

Hillwood and Bell started talking late last summer, with initial discussion focusing on a sublease for a building that underwent a $3-million renovation by its former occupant. It ended with Hillwood crafting a lease amendment, assignment and assumption to replace Gulfstream with Bell in the building, Alter explains of a complicated process for a structure tied to a ground lease with the City of Fort Worth. The deal was bundled by Bell's longtime broker, Adam Faulk of Jackson Cooksey in Dallas; Gulfstream's broker, Dave Anderson with CB Richard Ellis Inc.'s Dallas office; and Alter as Hillwood's man on the ground. The Gulfstream lease carried an expiration of mid- to late 2019, Alter says.

The four-year-old building is divvied into 64,000 sf of office space, 82,000 sf or four hangars that open onto the apron and 15,000 sf of warehouse area. With the deal just signed, talk already has turned to finishing out mezzanine space to add 20,000 sf to 50,000 sf of office area. Meanwhile, Hillwood is mulling around an industrial project that could add a customer delivery service area to an FAA-controlled airport with a US Customs portal that rose from ranchland more than a decade ago.

As would be expected, Bell and Hillwood have a longstanding relationship, but the new deal is the first sign of a full-fledged commitment with long-term vows. Until now, the only lease in place has been part of a nearby 28,000-sf building that Bell Augusta Aerospace Corp. shares with Textron Shared Services and a recent acquisition of land to support flight-training operations.

In the immediate, Bell is getting more room, better workflow and up-to-date space to "further transform our commercial business unit into an absolute premier world-class organization," Bell Helicopter CEO Mike Redenbaugh said in a press release.

And the future lies in the development that can arise from the landmark lease that lured Bell from its corporate campus bounds. "We may not get the corporate headquarters," Alter says, "but we're going to get as much of the company as we can to come to Alliance.