Wachovia Readies 64,058 SF for Texas HQ

The Charlotte, NC-based Wachovia made it known it was out to conquer Texas and then anted up the stakes with the SouthTrust merger. The $14.3-billion takeover of the Birmingham, AL financial institution is expected to close before the calendar flips.

The Wachovia team launched a citywide search shortly after it announced the Texas plan in February. By mid-May, options were pared to two buildings in the Dallas area.

Wachovia will light space in the East Tower of the 598,250-sf Spectrum Center at 5080 Spectrum Dr. in Addison, becoming the second largest tenant for the 12-story twins. The financial institution is backfilling part of the space emptied in August by the locally based Frito-Lay Inc. "It was a quick backfill," says Michael Lewis, vice president of leasing for property owner, Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. of Fort Worth. Spectrum Center is 73% leased thanks to the deal...and another large lease is about to be signed for the complex, he adds.

Wachovia has started construction on first-floor retail space and is ready to begin on the rest of the build-out. The firm's lease spans three-fourths of the third level and all of floors 4, 5 and 8. Virginia Mulkey, Spectrum's leasing director, tells GlobeSt.com that Wachovia added 3,800 sf on the third floor before word could get out that it was taking 60,258 sf in the complex. And, she says "we expect it to grow more."

With Guy Bodine III and William C. Wilson in charge of Texas, Wachovia will open doors in December with a staff of about 230 for the office, first-floor financial center and human resources training center. The retail spot could be the first to open in Wachovia's ramp-up, which calls for a soft opening of as many as five financial centers in December. The plan to add wholesale and retail locations will heat up next year with more rollouts in Dallas/Fort Worth and market launches in Austin, Houston and San Antonio.

Larry Toon of the Staubach Co.'s Dallas office and Webber Beall with Lincoln Harris, the Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co.'s brokerage arm, represented Wachovia. Crescent had Lewis, Mulkey and Bill Knopick of Cousins Properties doing its talking.

The Crescent win is attributed to the building's profile, sponsorship and floor plan. "It had all the attributes that made it the best value," Lewis says. The complex's quoted rate is $20 per sf to $21 per sf plus electric.