Though the Las Colinas office building came with its fair share of distress, Spencer says the story behind Le Meridien was much different. "The seller with whom we have a relationship owned it in a fund, and they had strategic reasons to sell it," he explains. "But they hadn't owned it very long and they didn't want to sell." The result was a structure by which Arden Group bought a majority interest, allowing HEI to also retain an ownership position. "It showed an execution for their fund, it sold at a price we liked and they're able to move the property forward," Spencer says. "We think we bought it under the right structure, certainly at the right location and definitely at the right time in the cycle." Jones Lang LaSalle represented both HEI and Capmark Financial in the separate transactions; Arden Group was self-represented.

Spencer says the two properties share other great attributes such as barriers to entry and white-collar job growth. "We like the markets to be more built up," Spencer says, noting that Arden Group has acquired properties in Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and is poking around New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles. In addition to the Las Colinas and Galleria/Addison submarkets in Dallas, Arden Group is targeting Uptown, the CBD and Preston Center. Basically, anything that is built-out, with limited new construction anticipated to come online.
The company's exit strategy is fairly straightforward as well. "If we start seeing shovels in the ground, that's our signal to get out of the market and sell the asset below replacement cost to a buyer," Spencer says.

Though the company's buys represent its first move in the Dallas area, Spencer says he's been eyeing the region for awhile. During the past decade, Arden Group has made several offers. Notably, the company offered to acquire Prentiss Properties Trust of Dallas and its huge portfolio, which ultimately went to Brandywine Realty Trust for $3.3 billion. "We came in second trying to buy that portfolio," Spencer says.

More recently, Arden Group put in a bid to acquire Thanksgiving Tower in downtown Dallas, but the property was acquired by local investor Jonas Woods.

Even with the competitive nature of the market, Spencer isn't daunted; he wants to see Arden Group buy more in the Dallas area.

"We've been doing this since 1989," Spencer says. "We know how to look at assets and uncover their value and we're not afraid to get our hands dirty. We don't mind renovation or rebranding, we're comfortable in that world." Furthermore, he goes on to say, Arden Group is happily aggressive about buying debt, especially defaulted debt, so long as it's at a discount. "We're comfortable in that world," he adds. "It gives us a leg up over the typical fund buyer."