BlackBerry's Parent Ups US HQ to 134,177 SF

IRVING, TX-Toronto-based Research In Motion has exercised an expansion option at Riverside Commons in the Las Colinas Urban Center. BlackBerry’s parent will add 23,600 sf on a bi-level wing to get another full floor for its 110,577-sf US headquarters.

Research In Motion moved on the option in an advance play for its class A office space needs. The lights will be flipped on Jan. 1, 2009, according to Rodney Helm, vice president of Dallas-based Capstar Commercial Real Estate Services. The deal shakes out as the tenant’s second expansion since mid-December 2007 when it disclosed plans to place its US headquarters in the six-building, 455,000-sf class A complex at 5000 Riverside Dr.

Research In Motion has been catapulted into the complex’s largest tenant with the extra space, getting first- and second-floor wings in the 66,000-sf Building 4 at 5010 Riverside Dr. As is the norm, the expansion term runs co-terminus to the existing 10-year lease, which spans all three floors of the 84,868-sf Building 6, commonly called Brazos West, and 25,709-sf top floor of the 60,000-sf Building 5 or Brazos East. Helm tells GlobeSt.com that he’s cautiously optimistic that Research In Motion, over time, could occupy all three floors in Building 4 too.

The expansion bumps occupancy to 85% at Riverside Commons, owned by Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital LLC. Helm says there’s one more deal pushing across the finish line any day now that will nudge occupancy to 90%. “We have great momentum at that property,” Helm says. “We have definitely outperformed the competition in the Las Colinas submarket in net positive absorption.” Year to date, the team has bed down 60,000 sf of deals for the complex, which carries a $23 per sf quoted rate.

Helm and Capstar principal Chris Taylor represent Westmount. Research In Motion had Patrick O’Keefe, senior vice president of global corporate services in Dallas for CB Richard Ellis, and David Potter for CBRE in Canada, negotiating its terms.