GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: 10-Year Partnership Puts 1,182 Acres on Block

The Interstate 20 acreage, divvied into three tracts, is believed to be the largest contiguous block with freeways in place left in Dallas County. Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc.'s senior director Tom Pearson and associate director Lizzy Pappachen-Blake beat out five other teams on the short list for the assignment, John Gilbert, principal for the Dallas-based PNL, tells GlobeSt.com.

PNL and the New York City-based Blackacre are the majority owners, with the FDIC holding a small vested interest in the land, which totaled 2,300 acres when it was acquired from the Resolution Trust Corp. in 1995. Panattoni Development Co. of Sacramento, one of the sure suitors, bought 410 acres in April 2001 and the Potters House took down 180 acres in 1999.

"We just think it's time to go ahead and sell the balance," Gilbert says. "This is the last asset of the partnership. It would be an opportunity to wrap up the partnership if we hit our goals." At one time, the portfolio included 150 assets and two fee-title properties in the Southwest. The partnership terms barred PNL from developing the land.

Gilbert says the C&W team's plan is to pitch the no-minimum offering to 200 to 250 institutional investors as well as some local developers. The call for offers will be made at the end of November. "If all works right, it will be done before Christmas," Gilbert says.

The land, which also fronts Spur 408, is zoned for multiple commercial and residential uses, with going prices in the corridor running 50 cents per sf for residential tracts and $2.50 per sf to $3 per sf for retail sites. "I'd like to see more than one buyer," Gilbert says. "How it will fall out, I'm not really sure. I think there will be a good cross-section of buyers from institutions to local developers."

Gilbert says PNL will look to reinvest its gain locally. The sale would help to fuel a recently launched lending platform, PNL Funding LLC. The affiliate, led by vice president John Willingham, is providing capital to single-family and commercial developers in Dallas/Fort Worth.