125,000-SF Office Search Gets Under Way

A spokeswoman for the Fireman's Fund tells GlobeSt.com that a location decision for the existing operation and addition of a national service center will be made in the fall. The key point, she says, is that the City of Dallas has stepped up with a personal property tax incentive to keep the operation in the CBD.

The Fireman's Fund has had an office in Dallas for 40 years. "It could have been outside Dallas," the spokeswoman says. "There were a lot of discussions and going back and forth. We've settled on the City of Dallas."

The Fireman's Fund houses 180 employees in the 720,729-sf Harwood Center at 1999 Bryan St. The extra space is needed for second service center, which will start out with 80 employees. The spokeswoman stresses the Dallas office will supplement not replace its Earth City, MO center.

"From the outset, we were especially interested in Texas because of its central location, lower costs and workforce," she explains. The center will be used for direct sales and support functions, centralized customer call center, field support for employees in remote locations and other initiatives for independent agents selling Fireman's Fund products and services.

With that decision out of the way, the Fireman's Fund broker, Rick Hughes with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. in Dallas, is able to hunker down to broker a deal for the entire operation. The spokeswoman says the search is now under way for class B plus or class A space.

Jonathan Landau, lead exec for locally based Fortis Property Group LLC, says the class A, 36-story Harwood Center definitely is in the race. "We have a very unique approach to leasing out space," he says. "I think we're going to be able to do a deal with these guys."

The Fireman's Fund occupies floors eight through 11. The high rise has floors 12 and 13 available for expansion, according to Terrence Storey, Fortis' CFO. "With the availability of contiguous floors for expansion," he adds, "we feel optimistic that we will be able to enter into a mutually satisfactory arrangement to retain the Fireman's Fund as a tenant in our building."