| Photo Credit: Transwestern |
By Steve Brown
Real Estate Editor | Dallas Morning News
Richardson’s booming Telecom Corridor is getting another major project that will add to employment in the area.
Transwestern Development Co. is teaming up with UBS Asset Management to build the 310,000-square-foot office project adjacent to the CityLine complex at U.S. Highway 75 and Renner Road.
The almost 7-acre development site is within walking distance of DART’s CityLine rail station and is next door to new apartments and retail space.
The project could eventually house more than 1,400 office workers.
“We really like the synergies of this development site,” said Reid Caldwell, managing director of Transwestern Development. “We had this ranked as our number one development site for new office.
“This is probably the first spec building started in that market since 1998,” Caldwell said. “And this will be the first multi-tenant office building at CityLine."
State Farm Insurance and Raytheon occupy almost 2 million square feet of office space in two large corporate campuses at the 186-acre CityLine development. Builders are finishing up hundreds of apartments, shopping, restaurants and a hotel that will join the State Farm and Raytheon offices on both sides of Plano Road.
Transwestern Development’s office building will be constructed on the east side of U.S. 75, just south of where apartment builder Trammell Crow Residential is now building the first two phases of a 1,250-unit rental community.
Caldwell said his firm’s new 3400 at CityLine office building will be connected to CityLine with walking trails and a new pedestrian bridge across Spring Creek.
Landscaped areas and outdoor lounge areas will surround the 5-story office complex.
“This area is well over 1.2 acres – it’s a huge gathering opportunity for workers in the building,” he said. “We are providing a lot of amenities to make tenants happy.
”A fitness center, yoga garden and deli will be located on the first floor opening on to the park. And there’s a parking garage with spaces for more than 1,000 cars.
Caldwell said the building will rent for between $33 and $34 per square foot, plus electric.
“The market up there is tight – really tight for the good stuff,” he said.
At the end of the first quarter, only about 10 percent of the Telecom Corridor’s first class office space was empty. And expanding and relocating tenants net leased almost 400,000 square feet so far in 2016.
Dallas architect BOKA Powell designed the 3400 at CityLine building.
And Amegy Bank, American National Bank of Texas and Commerce Bank of Missouri are financing the development.
Malouf Interests Inc. of Dallas is a partner in the project.
The location next to CityLine is about the only spot in North Texas where a speculative office project makes sense, said Transwestern’s Jack Eimer.
“We’ve worked at CityLine for three years on the management side of the State Farm buildings,” Eimer said. “We understand that market and see what’s happened there.
“It’s the first new product in that market in a long long time.
“If you can lead the market with a high-quality new product you are going to end up with a success.”
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