Creative Space Emerges in West End’s Tallest Building

DALLAS—The historic West End District has a new landmark that has been described as “a creative space designed for creatives”. Crescent Real Estate LLC recently celebrated the grand opening of The Luminary–a seven story office building which now stands as the tallest in the District.

Located in the Innovation District, the building embraces the historic context while providing creative office space. This is designed to blend with the area’s walkable lifestyle of retail, entertainment and housing opportunities.

The Luminary’s journey began two years ago. Crescent, in partnership with Long Wharf Capital LLC, purchased the existing headquarters of Dallas-based architectural firm Corgan and announced plans for an expansion to be located at the center of the West End District in downtown.

“Pound for pound, The Luminary is the most innovative new office building in Dallas,” said Joseph Pitchford, managing director for Crescent Real Estate. ”We are thrilled to have worked with Corgan to bring electrochromic glass and an offset core floor plate to the Dallas office market.”

Building highlights include the use of electrochromic SageGlass, which tints automatically to control sunlight, reduce glare and save energy, as well as an offset building core, which creates expansive floor plates. Designed by Corgan, the new expansion of more than 100,000 square feet includes a creative lobby lounge, an industrial-influenced rooftop terrace with views and three floors of office space encompassing a total of 81,711 square feet. Each floor has 27,237 square feet. The garage, which provides much-needed parking space to accommodate workers and visitors who come to the West End, offers a 3/1,000 parking ratio.

Corgan leased back the existing 57,731-square-foot three-story building at 401 North Houston St. and leased an additional 23,268 square feet of the new office building adjacent to its office.

John Zogg, managing director of Crescent Real Estate, says he didn’t anticipate the impact of the 14-foot windows, which provide a significant amount of sunshine. As most office developments have 9-foot windows, he tells GlobeSt.com that the larger windows make the building “really cool”.

“The Luminary has exceeded our expectations. What stands out are the 14-foot windows that not only provide unparalleled views of downtown Dallas and the surrounding areas but bring incredible light to every space,” said Zogg. “Another top attraction is the efficiency of the floorplates, allowing a business the freedom to design a space that inspires creativity and offers maximum productivity.”

He adds that for a relatively small lease of 30,000 to 40,000 square feet, a business can elevate its brand by taking advantage of building signage that will be seen by approximately 400,000 passing cars daily.

“This type of branding opportunity usually requires a commitment of 100,000 square feet,” Zogg tells GlobeSt.com.

Additionally, the building will have dozens of bicycle racks and shower facilities for use by office customers.

“The combined effects should be especially appealing to businesses focused on recruiting and retaining top young talent who seek flexible, collaborative concepts in desirable, walkable locations,” said Zogg.

Corgan’s existing three-story LEED Silver headquarters in the West End opened in 2007. The Luminary will seek LEED v4 Silver certification and the entire property will also seek WELL Building Standard certification.

The Luminary project complements Crescent and Long Wharf’s 2015 and 2016 investments in the West End. Crescent and Long Wharf currently own 223,000 square feet of creative office space there, having acquired attractive brick and timber properties at 208 N. Market St., 501 Elm St., 211 Record St. and 800 Jackson St., all of which include office and ground-floor retail space, and were constructed in the early 1900s.

Spread out over 36 blocks, the West End Historic District is a business hub for innovation, as well as a popular tourist and entertainment destination primarily comprised of repurposed early 1900s vintage shipping warehouses showcasing early 20th Century architecture. Beginning in the 1980s, the brick and timber buildings were converted into boutique office buildings, attracting architecture and law firms as well as creative office customers. Today, more than 300 businesses and agencies employ more than 10,500 people in 1.6 million square feet of available office inventory in the West End, according to Crescent.

An important part of the equation is the upgrading and activation of the restaurants, which are the core of the street-level experience.

“What’s really great about the upgrading of the restaurants are that owners are meeting on a monthly basis to make sure everyone is on the same page,” Zogg tells GlobeSt.com. “Everyone is asking ‘how can we make it better?’ in working to improve the street level and are putting in the capital behind that effort.”

Four DART light rail line stops are within a mile of the development with the closest station being only a five-minute walk from the building entrance. Apartments, restaurants and attractions including the developing Victory Park entertainment complex and the convention center are also within walking distance.

“Despite the negative net absorption recorded in the first quarter of 2019, the DFW office market is showing what a soft landing looks like: demand pulls back, rates begin to flatten out and transactions still get done but take longer than peak conditions,” Steve Triolet, Younger Partners research director, tells GlobeSt.com.