Leasing Push Nails Two Long-Term Tenants for Class A Tower

The Salt Lake City-based Franklin Covey Co. is prepping to relocate a regional office into 4,711 sf while Southern Wealth Management LP took over the 2,090-sf management spot of the 540,514-sf Occidental Tower at 5005 LBJ Freeway to launch an office in the metroplex. Covey, which has a store in the neighboring Galleria, inked a six-year lease and Southern Wealth signed a five-year deal, Kathy Permenter with Grubb & Ellis Co. in Dallas tells GlobeSt.com.

Permenter says Occidental Tower's occupancy is 80% versus 73.5% at the year's start. "We've got a very aggressive rental rate right now," she says. Talks are opening at $18 per sf to $19.50 per sf, down from a solid $20 per sf just a few months ago. "We've had great activity since the rate came down," she says. Another 6,000 sf in leases are out for review and four tenants are weighing expansions to close off another 8,000 sf, she says.

Franklin Covey's move from the Colonnade complex at 15303 Dallas Parkway will coincide with a lease expiration, according to Permenter. The deal won out over a renewal not only for the rate, but because it's within walking distance of the new store, she adds. The firm is taking a seventh-floor office that's about the same size as it's leaving.

To make way for Southern Wealth, Occidental Tower's management team moved into another third-floor spot. But, Permenter says, that too will be temporary since her goal is to get Grubb's team onto the first floor. The tower is owned by Occidental Chemical Corp. of Dallas, which occupies 223,000 sf on 10 floors.

Mark Durbon of Loftus & Durbon Co. in Dallas represented Franklin Covey. Patrick Nugent with locally based Trammell Crow Co. handled talks for Southern Wealth Management, a spin-off by former Ernst & Young LLP executives who also have set up offices in Austin and New Orleans.