Dallas Owners Lining Up to Woo Winstead's HQ

DALLAS-With brokers panting on the sidelines, top-ranked law firm Winstead is going shopping for a new headquarters office after spending nearly three decades in the same Downtown high rise. The request for proposals will hit the streets in four to six weeks.

The search will probe all options: staying put, existing high rises and to-be-built towers. The constants are location–Downtown or Uptown–and space efficiency for the 293-member team, boasting 140 attorneys, in Dallas, one of seven offices in the state. The 198,000-sf office in Renaissance Tower at 1201 Elm St. spans floors 45, 46, 53, 54, 55 and 56, the class A building’s penthouse. The current 10-year lease expires in 2012.

Leading the search is the CB Richard Ellis team of executive vice president Phil Puckett, senior vice president Chris Hermann, senior associate Michelle Donaldson and sales assistant Harlan Davis. The team was up against Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. and Jones Lang LaSalle in the best and final.