Qwest, Sphera Sign 10-Year Bricks-and-Mortar Deals at Dallas ComCenter

DALLAS-Denver-based Qwest Communications and Sphera Optical Networks Inc., headquartered in New York City, have signed 10-year leases at the one-million-sf Dallas ComCenter @ One Main Place.

Dallas ComCenter, a CBD telecom hotel, will now house 14 fiber-optic telecommunications tenants plus four more providers that deliver high-tech access to the 32-year-old building that has been converted into a Downtown high-tech hub. The contracts are a boon to Dallas ComCenter, Tom Ligon, the structure’s Grubb & Ellis Co. leasing director, tells GlobeSt.com. “More telecommunications companies are looking for maximum connectivity. That’s why we’re bringing these leases to the forefront,” he explains. “It’s important to others to know they’re in the building.”

The long-range plan for the 85%-leased ComCenter is to ultimately have 25% of its tenant base hail from the telecommunications industry. Ligon says the center has the greatest amount of available space for telecommunications companies in the Downtown CBD. Dallas is ranked sixth nationwide for telecom centers and 11th worldwide.

Ligon says he has another significant deal in the pipeline, which he expects to finalize in the next couple of weeks. The fiber-optic deals give Dallas ComCenter tenants connectivity choice. The technology center boasts office, retail and communications components. Two weeks ago, Epoch Internet Networks, one of the nation’s largest Internet providers had finalized its 10-year lease for the 29,000-sf 18th floor of Dallas ComCenter.

Qwest Communications, which has maintained a Dallas call center for several years, is taking 3,000 sf in the 32-story structure. Sphera is making its inroad into the Texas market, leasing part of the 27th floor, according to Ligon. Both companies are busy installing fiber-optic lines in the structure to offer services in-house as well as capturing a piece of the high-tech action in the region.

Sphera is the nation’s first telecommunications provider to use Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing in the local access market. DWDM allows providers to send nearly 100 times more information–data or voice–over a single fiber as opposed to traditional methods of transmitting information.

“It’s not the square footage or dollar size of these deals that make them critical to our success at Dallas ComCenter,” says Ligon. “It’s that tenants like these, who followed other fiber providers into the building, then attract other tenants. Qwest is big and established, and Sphera has the DWDM. Tenants like these provide the bandwidth that technology companies need.”

Cushman & Wakefield’s New York and Dallas offices represented Sphera while Grubb & Ellis brokers acted on Qwest’s behalf. Ligon, of Grubb & Ellis Management Services, spoke for building owner, RAK Group of New York City, in both deals. Grubb & Ellis has held the Dallas ComCenter leasing and management contract for the past three years.