CNL, Crow Adding 500,000-SF Annex at Dallas Market Center

The four-story addition to the Dallas Trade Mart represents the largest construction project since Crow Holdings developed the 65-acre Dallas Market Center in 1957. The annex will hold two floors of showroom space for the lighting industry and two floors of parking as a reserve for future expansions. A Dallas Market Center contact tells GlobeSt.com that the project will be ready to go vertical Monday.

CNL Properties is funding the expansion for the lighting industry, which now has 260 companies leasing showroom space in the facility. The contact says CNL's all-cash support clearly is tied to the "compelling opportunity and investment return" from doubling the lighting industry's space.

The expansion is getting underway with 75% of the 500,000 sf preleased. More than 10 major manufacturers have preleased showrooms while existing tenants have dibs on expansion space. Hudson Valley Lighting Inc./Troy/Corbett, Hunter Fan Co./Kenroy Lighting Co., Maxim Lighting International and Dolan Designs will anchor the expansion, each signed up for more than 12,000 sf. The average showroom will be 6,000 sf; spaces range from 1,400 sf to 17,000 sf. Dallas-based HKS Architects designed the annex and Ruston, LA-based Lincoln Builders Inc.'s Fort Worth division is the general contractor.

"The partnership between CNL and Crow Holdings provides us with the financial resources to grow our business for the long term," Bill Winsor, president and CEO of Dallas Market Center, says in a press release. The Orlando-based CNL paid $249 million a year ago to a Crow Holdings affiliate for the majority stake in 4.8 million sf at the World Trade Center, Dallas Trade Mart, International Floral and Gift Center and a leasehold interest in Market Hall.

The local wholesale marketplace is the largest concentration of lighting resources in the world. Dallas Market Center hosts the International Lighting & Accessories Market every January and June, attracting buyers from 50 states and more than 84 countries.