GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Guard Changes for 640,000 SF

PM Realty Group, though released from the leasing, is holding tight to the property management for the trio of class A and class A-minus office space as Devon Properties changes the guard and sets the stage for the upgrades. About $3 million will go into renovations for 5429, 5501 and 5525 LBJ Freeway, now being prepped for a coming out as the LBJ Campus, Joel Pustmueller, partner in the Dallas-based Peloton, tells GlobeSt.com.

The complex, with freeway visibility and access, has close to 500,000 sf of empty space. The 232,628-sf 5429 LBJ Freeway has 165,000 sf dark in its 10 floors while the 292,168-sf, 12-story sister structure at 5501 LBJ has 195,000 sf vacant. The 115,012-sf, six-story 5525 LBJ is completely empty. The cluster's occupancy was above 90% when PM Realty took over in August 2002, but nose-dived when CSC Corp. and Fujitsu Transactions Solutions exited six digits of office space.

The Houston-based PM Realty got the trio's leasing and property management duties, along with 8585 Freeport Dr. in Las Colinas in a two-million-sf, four-city portfolio assignment. PM Realty had no comment about the leasing team change, which is confined to just the three LBJ office buildings.

Pustmueller says the assignment, now in its first week, has the Peloton team optimistic about hooking one or more of the 10 proposals sent to users looking for 25,000 sf to 150,000 sf in the Dallas market. His calculations show five million sf of deals are looking to land in Dallas buildings in a variety of scenarios, including market newcomers. "We are hoping in the short term that we will land a big user," he says. The LBJ Campus' leverage in the chase is the large blocks of contiguous space as work ramps up for lobby makeovers and sprinkler system upgrades as part of a lease-up plan with a full-service price tag of $15 per sf to $16 per sf.