Ericsson has added 260,000 square feet to its existing 200,000-square-foot lease in the former Nortel campus in Richardson.
Well that didn’t take long. Just a few weeks after closing on its $43 million acquisition of the former Nortel campus in Richardson, Pillar Commercial has leased 460,000 square feet in the two-building complex to Ericsson.
The telecommunications company renewed an existing lease for 200,000 square feet in a 400,000-square-foot low-rise R&D facility, where it’s adding another 60,000 square feet. It’s also taking about 200,000 square feet in an adjacent 16-story office tower.
About 1,000 Ericsson employees currently work out of the 800,000-square-foot campus on Lakeside Boulevard; the 260,000 square feet of expansion space will allow for 1,400 additional workers in support of the company’s organic growth.
Here’s a statement from Ericsson on the company’s expansion:
In the past two years Ericsson has grown from some 2,000 employees to more than 4,000 in the Dallas area. This incredible growth is the result of our tremendous success and expanding partnerships with our customers. To ensure our Dallas-based employees have a productive, convenient, and comfortable work environment, we are renewing the lease for our Richardson campus and leasing additional space in Richardson. The new space will accommodate roughly 1,400 personnel and is in addition to our North American headquarters in Plano.
Manny Ybarra
Pillar was represented in the lease transactions by Manny Ybarra, founder and principal. “We couldn’t be more grateful, having elected to make such a huge investment in the campus, to have a tenant like Ericsson,” he said. “Their entire team … has been great to work with. We’re hopeful that as they continue to expand they’ll have even more interest in the campus down the road.”
Mike Wyatt
Mike Wyatt and Ken Johnston of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. represented Ericsson. The robust power and telecommunications infrastructure Nortel had put in place—plus stable new property ownership and the campus’ proximity to Galatyn Park Urban Center and the DART light rail station—were key factors in the location decision, Wyatt said in a statement.
As a result of the lease, the Nortel signage will come down off the office tower and be replaced by Ericsson’s logo.
In a June 7 blog post, Ybarra, a RealPoints contributing editor, detailed for readers why he and his investment partners bought the campus out of bankruptcy. It had a lot to do with the real estate, he wrote, but the “pro-business philosophy” of Richardson city leaders was instrumental as well.
The Ericsson opportunity came up after Pillar had been selected to buy the campus. “We’re very fortunate that Ericsson had a need when it did,” Ybarra said. “When we underwrote the acquisition, we did not know about their interest; that started to evolve after we were awarded the project.”
About 200,000 square feet remain available in the office tower, on floors one and two, plus 11 through 16. Ybarra said prospective tenants are expressing an interest in the space. “We have a couple of groups we’re talking to,” he said, “but we’re in the early stages of those discussions.”