BofA's Two Years of Planning Ends With 566,000-SF Trophy Renewal

Bank officials have been planning the juxtaposition of the office space for two years. "There is a moving around of the square footage, but they are continuing to occupy 30% of the building with this transaction," says Daryl Mullin, senior director in Dallas for Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. The reworked lease takes effect immediately.

Mullin says talks produced a 20-year term for a lease that wasn't due to expire until 2009. The 72-story building, the tallest in the city, carries quoted rates ranging from $19 per sf to $22 per sf. The size of the deal undoubtedly warranted a significant discount.

The bank via a long line of successions has been in the high-rise since the doors opened in 1985 at 901 Main St. The space shuffling is underway. "We have no immediate plans to move anyone out," Kathleen Gibson, president of Bank of America, Dallas for the Charlotte, NC-headquartered conglomerate, tells GlobeSt.com. "We are actually moving some people in." She says talks went full circle "in a few months" once the configuration plan was in place.

The reconfiguration, Gibson says, is just "a business-as-usual stacking plan," as is done on a regular basis at its facilities nationwide. The Dallas CBD building holds the regional headquarters and several divisions, including BofA's lending group.

Mullin says the brokerage teams "worked a long time to identify the needs of the bank...for the short term and long term." The end result of the collaboration was a deal that left "everyone very pleased from senior management from the landlord and all through the bank operation," he says, adding some tenant improvements will be made at the bank's discretion. The 566,000-sf lease includes about 4,500 of first-floor retail space.

Besides Mullin, C&W associate director Lawrence Gardner negotiated on behalf of the building owner. Sunbelt Management has owned the building since 1998 through a limited partnership, Dallas Main LP. The bank's brokerage team from Trammell Crow Co. consisted of Brant Bernet, Joe Cicardo, Chris Herrmann and Phil Puckett.

With the closing, the high-rise's occupancy is a firm 87%. "It's a significant step in fortifying the tenancy of the building," Mullin says, noting activity of late has been on the rise at the CBD landmark.