JV Trades About $11M for Class A Deed

Crescent walked away with $10.8 million in net proceeds, which will be used to pay down debt facilities. The REIT has been parting with class B and select class A office properties in an ongoing disposition "where it makes economic sense for the particular asset," says Keira Moody, Crescent's investor relations director. The two-building complex's 12% occupancy was a driving force for bringing the property to market in October 2003, just months before EADS Telecom North America headed north to Frisco into a new headquarters building at Hall Office Park.

The Dallas-based JV buyer placed the winning contract last December to best a handful of others in the same price range, gaining an edge with a promise for a quick close, says Holt Lunsford, founder and principal of the Holt Cos. The buildings, positioned on slightly more than eight acres, have a combined assessment of nearly $9.2 million.

Crescent acquired the holding at 5055 and 5057 Keller Springs Road in a one-off purchase in 1994. At its latest sale time, the in-place rent was $18 per sf, full service, according to Moody.

Lunsford tells GlobeSt.com that the repositioning strategy calls for a slight dip in the rental rate, $17.50 per sf, and a bringing to market of the 123,564-ssf Liberty Plaza II at 5057 Keller Springs Road as "for sale" or "for lease" product. He says the structure is the largest contiguous block of its caliber space fronting the limited access Dallas North Tollway.

The Holt Cos.' headquarters will be moved within 60 days from a block away to a 14,000-sf office to the 103,000-sf Liberty Plaza I at 5055 Keller Springs Road as it assumes leasing, management and renovation oversight for the package. About $1 million will go into upgrades of the Liberty Plaza I along with improvements to the shared courtyard, Lunsford says. The lobby and common areas of the other building were upgraded about five years ago.

Lunsford predicts the property will be fully repositioned within two years, particularly since it's positioned in a submarket that's been registering to the positive throughout the downturn. "I just think it's a homerun," he says of the new JV with a longtime friend. Not only have the duo owned together before, but the Holt Cos. also leases and manages Champion's industrial holdings in the metroplex. Andrea Peskind and Brad Thornburg, a Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. team in Dallas, brokered the sale on Crescent's behalf.