Five Tenants Rope Off 59,293 SF in Las Colinas Leasing Rally

Cottonwood Financial has just moved into 37,893 sf at 1901 Gateway Dr., delivering the largest lease inked in the stack for building owner, Miranda Partners of Carrollton, TX. Cottonwood toured 14 buildings in Las Colinas before committing to a 10-year lease to put its headquarters into the second and third floors of a 73,758-sf office building to get enough room to add up to 70 workers to the 180-employee operation, Kevin S. McGovern, first vice president in Dallas for CB Richard Ellis Inc., tells GlobeSt.com. "They wanted to be as close to the office center as possible," McGovern says.

Cottonwood Financial took over the entire third level and two-thirds of the second, getting expansion rights to the balance of the floor. McGovern says the deal includes a pair of monument signs and the company's name on a class B building with a $14 per sf quoted rate. Melanie Hughes, vice president for Bradford Cos. in Dallas, represented the building owner.

Cottonwood Financial, making the move in sync with a lease expiration, exited about 14,000 sf after a five-year stay at 1300 W. Walnut Hill Lane. The end result is 23,893 sf of positive absorption for Las Colinas, McGovern points out about the largest of his five just-signed deals. Prior to the leasing flurry, the submarket had a 24.8% vacancy in its 20.1-million-sf office inventory, according to CBRE's fourth-quarter report.

At 3030 LBJ Freeway, American Eagle Services went from 4,000 sf to 8,000 sf. McGovern says the tenant extended the class A lease for seven years and completely restructured the terms in the 367,018-sf TriWest Plaza. Rick Renzi with CBRE brokered the pact for the three-month-old building owner, New York City-based Praedium Group and Centennial Real Estate Corp. of Dallas. The building's quoted rent is $18.50 per sf.

In a third deal for the Las Colinas Office Center submarket, lender Goodman Factors re-upped a year early on a 5,000-sf, five-year lease in the 303,000-sf Greystone Centre at 3010 LBJ Freeway, McGovern says. The 25-year-old firm kept the same size office and opted for "as-is" space to "take advantage of a market that looked attractive to them," he says. Debbie Boles with the John Bowles Co. in Dallas represented the class A building owner, Younan Properties of North Hollywood, CA. The space is on the market for $17 per sf.

North American Pipeline, with one 3,000-sf office in Las Colinas, is setting up a second one. The 3,000-sf lease, with a five-year term, was locked down for 545 E. John Carpenter Freeway, a 369,134-sf, class A structure owned by Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust. The oil and gas exploration firm will turn on lights in mid-February. EOP's Michael Dudley sat across the negotiations table from McGovern. The building's marketed rate is $18 per sf.

Western Pipeline, a 2,500-sf tenant in the Millennium Center at 222 W. Las Colinas Blvd., jumped the office to 5,400 sf with a seven-year lease, according to McGovern. The extra space will be ready to fill in the coming weeks. Bill Lokey with Cousins Properties represented the building owner, TIAA-CREF of New York City. The 835,044-sf structure carries a $19.50 per sf lease rate.