Transwestern Lands Coveted 500,000-SF Leasing Contract; Plans to Relocate Its Corporate Offices

Commercial Services Dallas is seizing control of one of Dallas’ most prized contracts: leasing and property management for the stately 500,000-sf Providence Towers, backed by plans to relocate its corporate offices for the first time in 22 years.

The high-profile, five-year contract is to be signed no later than Friday, says Thom Ridnour, senior vice president of office and development services, who will be overseeing leasing and property management duties. In concert with the assignment, TCS Dallas will move its offices by year’s end into the granite-and-glass, arch-connected twin towers that serve as a landmark in the North Dallas corridor. Since its entry into the Dallas market, Transwestern has been officing at 3 Forest Plaza, Merit Dr., a property it developed in 1978.

“We are providing the project with our most senior talents,” says Kim Butler, Transwestern’s executive vice president and Dallas city leader, emphasizing the significance of the “prestigious assignment” that had been held by the Trammell Crow Co.

Ridnour, in an exclusive interview with GlobetSt.com, says all common areas of the 12-story twin towers, situated at 5001 Spring Valley Rd., will be updated while Transwestern’s new 18,000-sf accommodations also will undergo some design changes and build out. What won’t be changing is the existing on-site management office and its seven-member staff, he emphasizes.

Providence Towers’ positioning next to the Dallas North Tollway and its unique twin-tower design, built in 1986 by Albert Huddleston, are key elements for its appeal as a corporate address. “It’s a little bit better centrally located for us,” Ridnour says of Transwestern’s relocation decision.

Primary tenants for the 83%-leased Providence Towers are: Dean Witter Reynolds, occupying two floors totaling about 35,000 sf; Hilton Hotels Corp, 30,000 sf; Henry S. Miller Cos., about 30,000 sf; and a JC Penney division, 68,000 sf. The per sf cost for a full-service lease is $23.50, according to Ridnour. He says Trammell Crow is “working some deals” as part of its phase-out that most likely will add some new tenants.

“It was built as asolutely the best building in North Dallas,” says Ridnour, a 22-year veteran of the commercial real estate sector, 17 of which have been spent with Transwestern. The pact takes Transwestern over the 10 million-sf mark for leasing and property management in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Nationwide, Transwestern manages a 100 million-sf portfolio.