Lucy Burns & Gar Herring Dish on Big D Leasing
From office to retail, leasing activity is up in Dallas and there’s no slowing down as long as job growth continues. That’s why we’re excited to bring you Bisnow’s Dallas State of the Market event on May 27 at Gaedeke Group’s Banner Place, starting at 7:30am.
Billingsley Co partner Lucy Burns, who'll be an event speaker, tells us the cost of doing business has become so difficult in some parts of the country that moving to business-friendly states like Texas has become more imperative. The cost of living, our Central Time Zone and educated workforce add to the appeal. Additionally, the City and the State have done a great job of marketing and positioning to take advantage of these trends.
There’s been tremendous office leasing activity in Cypress Waters as Billingsley is nearing 100% lease-up in its two spec buildings, Lucy tells us. Plus, there’s a lot of build-to-suit activity. Billingsley will break ground next month on its newest office building at 9001 Cypress Waters Blvd (rendered here). The four-story 215k SF building has already had a lot of interest, Lucy says. Plus, the first retail building at Cypress Waters is also nearly leased up and a second retail building will be started this summer.
Lucy tells us that Cypress Water earned some kudos for its 25-foot-tall Pegasus sculpture; it received the 2015 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award from the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California. Artist Kevin Box (here with the sculpture and his wife, Jennifer) designed the mythological winged horse (and Dallas icon) from a single uncut square of paper folded by world-renowned origami artist Dr. Robert J. Lang. Kevin translated the design into a model that GPLA engineered to withstand 95 mile per hour sustained winds. Damon Chefchis of CMY in Albuquerque fabricated the sculpture in mild steel. Powder coated, transported, erected and completed in April 2014, the sculpture is viewable by the public at the northeast corner of Cypress Waters Boulevard and Hackberry Road.
All of north Dallas is feeling the positive impact of Toyota, Fed Ex, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, the Cowboys and more; retail success always follows the success of other real estate, says MGHerring Group president & CEO Gar Herring (left, with SRS Real Estate Partners market leader Mark Reeder). Gar (also a panelist at the event) says multifamily has delivered thousands of units, residential is strong again and office is booming; now retail is following.
Gar says consumers want more luxury in their shopping centers; fashion, entertainment and grocery, as well as more budget conscious retailers like H&M and Forever 21 Red. There’s also demand for more restaurants across the Metroplex. MGHerring is in the midst of updating and adding new stores to The Village at Fairview and The Village at Allen; as well as building a new H&M, renovating Dillard’s and the theater at Golden Triangle Mall in Denton. Be on the lookout, too, for possible redevelopment of other distressed malls and shopping centers, he tells us. To hear more, please join us for Bisnow’s Dallas State of the Market event on May 27 at Gaedeke Group’s Banner Place, starting at 7:30am. Sign up here!
