Investors Circling for 200,000-SF Chase Tower, 15 Acres

"It's arguably one of the best infill sites left in the market," says Robert Grunnah, president of the investment/land division for Dallas-based Henry S. Miller Commercial. Harwood's 100 N. Central Expressway property is tagged at $17.5 million. The offering bell rings Aug. 20. "The time to close is distinctly Nov. 1," he tells GlobeSt.com.

The Dallas-based Harwood acquired the asset in the early 1990s. Grunnah says the sale is being positioned as a redevelopment play, with the 86%-leased, 13-story office building as an income-producing anchor for the land's most likely use, retail. The layout of the land is such that 11.5 acres could be carved out at the hard corner of the second busiest intersection in North Dallas. To put the redevelopment into play, Grunnah estimates it would take close to $7 million to build a parking garage and secure two out-parcels totaling three acres.

Grunnah says Chase Bank officials have lent their support to the mixed-use merchandising plan. The bank, filling 40,000 sf of lobby and office space, has been part of the roster since doors opened in 1972, according to Grunnah, who says the lead tenant has three years left on its lease. The 51 tenants' leases have "limited turnover" this year, he says, adding the seller has opted to let negotiations up to the new owner.

Grunnah, teaming with Henry S. Miller's senior vice president John St. Clair, says 60 requests were made in one week by an evenly divided mix of institutional and private investors, all eyeing a development opportunity with a solid income-producing anchor. The incentive to build, Grunnah says, lies in Richardson's clear-cut absence of new high-quality retail.

The Harwood listing is across the street from Richardson Heights Village, a 210,591-sf center built in 1961 on 18 acres. The 501 W. Belt Line Rd. center, owned by Hopkins Commercial Real Estate Inc. of Dallas, is being marketed by Thomas Salanty of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc., who says activity has been "ferocious." Word on the street is he's bearing down on a closing for the 83.9%-leased asset.

John Jacobs, senior vice president of the Richardson Economic Development Partnership, says the city's 5.2-million-sf retail inventory is 85% leased. The retail space in and around the marketed properties is mostly 1960s and early 1970s product. Though new projects are rising in other key parts of the city, none has been proposed as yet for the central corridor, he says.