Legal Consultants Rework Thanksgiving Tower Lease

The irony is the principals of Veritas Advisory Group Inc. previously occupied the office when they were with another law firm, says Art Green, managing director in Dallas for Studley. He tells GlobeSt.com that the three-year-old firm ripped up a lease set to expire in 2009 and replaced it with one that runs through 2012, adding two bumps to the rent. "It's nothing too dramatic," he says. The 1.4-million-sf building at 1601 Elm St. has a quoted rate of $18.50 per sf plus electric, according to the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors' database.

Jon Altschuler, managing director with Stream Realty Partners in Dallas, says Veritas is expanding for the third time. The consulting group of seasoned attorneys started with 5,000 sf, then 6,500 sf and its present 7,000 sf on the 19th floor. "Now, they're at 13,000 sf," he says. "You can't ask for a better tenant."

Negotiations for the latest expansion began in fall 2004. Green says the firm's executives didn't really look outside Thanksgiving Tower's walls because they've been part of the roster, with one firm or another, since 1990.

Thanksgiving Tower's occupancy goes to 88% with the signing. Besides Green, Studley senior managing director Jim Nelms and associate Efrem Colmenero represented Veritas while Stream associate Preston Young was sitting at Altschuler's side for the talks for T Tower LP, an ownership group led by Macfarlan Real Estate Investment Management of Dallas.

"It's one of those great landlord-tenant relationships," Altschuler says. "Art takes us to the woodshed from time to time, but in the end we get the deal signed."