Crown Jewel Getting New Name, $4M Redo

IRVING, TX-CB Richard Ellis Investors today will unveil a $4-million makeover plan and new name for the 833,390-sf Millennium Center. The crown jewel will be marketed as the Urban Towers, the third asset in the local portfolio to undergo a branding strategy for “free” amenities and increased rentable space.

In the case of the Urban Towers’ redo, the plan is to pick up an extra 10,000 sf in a lobby expansion to create a centralized entrance for the two-tower high rise at 222 W. Las Colinas Blvd., keying in on landscaped entries to grab the additional space. As the makeover swings into action, the Los Angeles-based investment group is considering a construction start on a third high rise to build out the 11.27-acre site. The north tower is 464,020 sf and the east, 369,370 sf–a trophy piece that gets its new strategy play teed off at this weekend’s Byron Nelson PGA Classic.

The Urban Towers’ construction contracts have yet to be let, but the plan is to start work in July and wrap up in February 2007. The lobby overhaul includes stripping travertine marble from walls and replacing it with fabric to “soften” the environment along with building out a one-stop, five-star service center on the first floor, just like the owner’s done at its other Urban Center properties, the 364,336-sf Tower on Lake Carolyn at 900 Lake Carolyn Parkway and 369,659-sf Summit at 545 Las Colinas Blvd. Each has undergone a $3.2-million renovation, including the reconfiguration of a conference center- athletic club-deli portal, which is being added to all CBREI-owned properties, says William Lokey, a CB Richard Ellis first vice president of asset services in Dallas.