DALLAS-Gensler, a seven-year tenant in Lincoln Centre, has reworked its lease nearly two years early to double the office size and tack several more years onto the term. The leading architectural firm will relocate Feb. 1 within the class A complex to get a full floor or 32,383 sf in Tower II.
Greg Biggs, executive director of Dallas-based Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc., tells GlobeSt.com that the initial search sized up office buildings from Uptown to North Dallas, but the decision to stay was mortared by the availability of a full floor in the high-profile, 1.6-million-sf office complex, which is at least 94% leased. Gensler is getting the 11th floor of the 19-story Tower II at 5420 LBJ Fwy. and vacating 16,000 sf on the fourth floor of Tower III at 5430 LBJ Fwy.
Gensler plans to completely retrofit the floor into LEED-certified space. “That was an important piece for them,” Biggs says, “and that's going to make their space different from other competing firms.” Judy Pesek, director and managing principal of San Francisco-based Gensler's Dallas office, is leading the design team for the new office for the 90-member staff.
“It's important that someone walks into our space and knows exactly what it is we do and what we're good at,” Paul Manno, a design director and principal in the Dallas office, says in a press release. “The workplace, for our office, should essentially be a look behind the curtain. It is an opportunity to show our clients how well everything can be put together.”
The entire complex is in the midst of renovations, with work already done on the interior common areas of the 612,462-sf Tower II and its exterior upgrades under way. Gensler's retooling also has begun.
Lincoln Centre's office space is quoted at $25 per sf to $25.50 per sf. But like all deals in the region, the financial terms are closely guarded information. Biggs and C&W senior director Matt Heidelbaugh sat across the bargaining table from Jay Bailey, vice president of leasing in Dallas for Atlanta-based Cousins Properties Inc. and associate Meredith Dockter.
According to the North Texas Data Exchange, the 11th floor was on the sublease market for awhile so it's most likely there will be little to no down time in rent collection for the New York City-based owner, TIAA-CREF. Biggs can't discuss the terms, but did say “the deal we struck was advantageous to the tenant and the landlord because they got to fill a full floor.”
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