REATA Blog
News & Updates
Estoppel? Condition or gift??
Estoppel. Sounds like a medical condition you don't want to talk about in polite company. Or something you'd need a medicated cream to clear up. Think of the embarrassment of checking out at the grocery store when the cashier gives you that knowing smirk. But an...
Passive Income for Realtors While Being a Hero to Your Clients
Most residential agents get to know their clients fairly well during a transaction - where they work, what their hobbies are, the names of their kids and what sports they play, etc. This information can be useful in earning additional income. I'm not talking about...
Get Out While the Gettin’s Good
Get Out While the Gettin’s Good With over 1,000 office buildings on the market for sale today, the DFW market has reached a 5-year high in property owners trying to cash in on their holdings. This is according to Costar, a commercial real estate research firm. And...
Office Market Vacancy Rate
Dallas Fort Worth has always been known for its low cost of living, ease of doing business and highly skilled labor pool. Its central location, great airport and low tax burden for both individuals and companies make it a very attractive place to do business. So its...
Office Rents Rising
A rising tide lifts all boats. So the saying goes. But is it true in office building rents? Definitely. As demand for office space increases, landlords start testing the waters by increasing rents. Eventually, that demand and those rents get to a point that justify...
WeWork – Will it Work in a Downturn?
We're updating this blog in light of a story that is currently in the news. WeWork is considering the anticipated valuation of its IPO...that it could be too high. Skepticism is rising over the business model. One of the concerns is what we pointed out here a little...
Don’t Let Your Lease Kill the Sale of Your Business
As an asset manager, in the late 90s, working for a large owner of office buildings, I got a phone call from a guy who said he was buying one of the companies in a Dallas building we owned. He said his company planned to close on the sale the next day and he wanted...
Feeling Cramped in the Office?
Have you ever noticed how food manufacturers sometimes shrink the size of your favorite candy bar or bag of chips? The price stays the same, of course, but you just don't get as much. Well, offices have been getting smaller for a long time at the same time that prices...
Open Plan Office Configuration – Productivity Killer?
Open plan offices have been taking it on the chin for a while now. And now Harvard is piling on with a study that says open plan configurations actually reduce face-to-face interactions instead of increasing them as commonly thought. Inc. did an article in which their...
Another One Bites the Dust
The Houston Chronicle reported on Friday that yet another tenant-rep-only firm has sold to a full-service firm. Jackson & Cooksey has been a commercial real estate firm solely focused on representing users (tenants & buyers) of commercial real estate since 1982. They...
British Real Estate Investment Firm Gives WeWork a Go
A colleague of mine in London who is a member of the Alliance of Tenant Representatives with me sent the following article about an old established commercial real estate investment firm that tried officing in a WeWork location for a while until their new office was...
Wal-Mart – IT??
Do you think of IT when you hear Wal-Mart? Most people don’t, but Wal-Mart has an emerging technologies office which makes sense when you consider that Amazon and other online retailers are likely taking a chunk out of its sales. Wal-Mart already has 2,000...
US Office Vacancy Lowest in 10 Years
According to a report produced by Transwestern, office vacancies in the US as a whole are at their lowest in 10 years. That's pretty amazing when you consider that they also report that 70.7 million square feet (SF) of new construction has been started during that...
A Ban on Dual Agency Fails…For Now
As you probably know, at REATA, we only represent users - companies that lease or buy office and warehouse space. We won't take landlord listings for lease because it has the potential to create conflicts of interest. Furthermore, we don't think that real estate...
Tax Reform – Another 1986?
Our government is talking about major tax reform. That will make you really nervous if you were in the commercial real estate business in the 1980’s. You will remember how a Republican president signed into law a tax law which killed our industry for 10 years. Sure,...
Working from Home – Does It Work?
One of the pioneers of allowing employees to work from home is IBM. They started doing it in 1979 and had 2,000 IBMer's working from home within 4 years. By 2009, 40% of their 386,000 employees in 173 countries didn't have an office. IBM even sold buildings which they...
Your Building May be Growing – Rentable Square Feet Get an Update
Your building may be growing. That sounds like a ridiculous idea, right? But it may be true. Not physically, of course, but in the way the size is determined. We have blogged in the past about buildings are measured and the difference between the useable square...
Are You Safe At Work?
The news of late has been nothing less than tragic – disgruntled employees and/or former employees returning to their work sites and opening fire on a specific person or just a crowd in general. No place appears to be immune anymore: churches, offices, industrial work...
West End SubLease
Please view our beautiful new sublease listing in the West End of Dallas, Texas. Sublet Flyer Bob Gibbons is a Real Estate Advisor & Tenant Advocate with REATA Commercial Realty, Inc. which is a tenant advisory firm based in Plano, Texas. Bob serves companies in...
Playing Russian Roulette With Corporate Real Estate
I'm often asked, "Why shouldn't I work with the big corporate real estate concerns in lieu of a boutique agency?" Actually, there are a lot of answers but my friend, Walt Batansky, CFO of Avocat Group, answered the biggest question in his eloquent essay entitled...
Dual Agency – New Court Ruling
If you know me, you know that I am always talking about conflicts of interest and how the commercial real estate (CRE) industry is unfairly slanted in favor of the landlord. One of the big reasons for that is that companies that lease space usually only sign a lease...
Validation??
I had to laugh when I read the newspaper a few days ago. Steve Brown is the real estate editor for the Dallas Morning News. He wrote an article several weeks ago which prompted me to write a blog post in response. So when I saw his latest article entitled "D-FW tops...
Office Utilization Far Less Than Expected
Bisnow.com had an article on their website today which started by citing a study by the Harvard Business Review (HBR). It said that "office utilization peaks at 42% on any day, forcing an overhaul of how efficient spaces are designed." The article goes on to talk...
Need Flexibility in Your Office Space?
So you need an office space quickly, but need flexibility and don't want to be tied into a long-term lease. What are your options? There are times when flexibility is critical to an organization – entering a new market, acquiring or merging with other companies,...
Office Leasing Slows…Really?
The Dallas Morning News article by Steve Brown was factually correct, but misleading.
Blue Star Accelerator-Jerry’s Star is growing ever bigger!
Recently, it was announced that Jerry Jones’ family is helping to launch a business incubator helping early-stage companies in the fields of technology, sports and entertainment. This new company is named Blue Star Accelerator (obviously!) that will office at The Star...
Appointment to Plano P & Z
I recently had the honor of being appointed to the Planning & Zoning Commission for the City of Plano. Mayor Harry LaRosiliere swore me in on October 10, 2016. The opportunity to serve the City of Excellence in this new capacity is a unique and humbling challenge, and...
3D Printing a Building?
Fascinating building going on in Dubai. In 17 days the Dubai Future Foundation printed out a building. The Associated Press described it as “looking like a mashup of a Jetsons abode and an Apple Store”. The building is located between the twin Emirates Towers and...
ATR Conference
I just got back from Denver where the bi-annual Association of Tenant Representatives (ATR) conference was held. ATR is a group of independent commercial real estate brokers exclusively focused on serving the needs of companies and non-profits in their real estate...
Dealmakers Breakfast
This morning I had the pleasure of attending the Dealmakers Breakfast at the Park Cities Club. Our guest speaker was a hometown hero albeit from many years ago - Chuck Hixson of Westdale (www.westdale.com), a real estate investment company. Westdale is the largest...
Record Setting Office Rents
Recently, the Dallas Morning News wrote that office rents in the Uptown area of Dallas have passed $50/square foot, which is a new record for North Texas. Driven by corporate relocations, along with other employment gains office space is in high demand. Jones Lang...
Construction Costs
Not a great topic around developers, building owners and tenants, these days! Labor costs have increased but DFW has one of the lowest increases in the country. Meanwhile costs of goods have increased significantly. Click here to read the entire article and view the...
DFW and New York – 2 Top Players for Office Building & Leasing
Wow! When was the last time you heard that? DFW leased 2,934,487 square feet of office space, edged out only by New York with 3,317,039 square feet for the second quarter of 2016 according to a new report by Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. To read the article, click here....
Downtown Dallas Displaced Workers Accommodated
Last week was one of the most horrific for all Dallasites in recent memory. But watching people help other people went a long way to helping restore faith in humanity. Police closed down a major area of downtown Dallas displacing many companies and their workers. Six...
How will Brexit affect US Real Estate
Several industry titans have weighed in with their take on what the fallout will be from Brexit regarding US real estate. Obviously, uncertainty has affected the markets negatively but the UK's decision to leave the EU could mean some initial positive upticks for the...
PlanoFirst Quarterly Luncheon Series
During a conversation with Mayor Harry LaRosiliere & Fehmi Karahan, Plano's mayor stated that he would build a wall, separating Plano and Frisco, at SH121 and make Frisco pay for it! If you missed today's luncheon, you missed a lot. Bob Gibbons is a Real Estate...
Glimpse at final CityLine project
KDC has released a rendering of what Richardson's CityLine project will look like completed. Also in this article is a timelapse video of the building of the State Farm campus - two things I really enjoy viewing and thought you might as well! To view both items, click...
Granite Park – 6th Tower to Break Ground Soon
Fannie Mae will be consolidating its three locations in North Texas to Granite Park's newest office tower, which is slated to be completed October, 2017. Granite has two more high rise office buildings in the hopper - "we started out here with one building and now we...
No Landline?
I remember a while back (OK, years ago) my kids told me to call someone's cell phone in lieu of their home phone as NO ONE answered those anymore. Yes, I admit, that home phones are relegated to phone solicitations primarily; however, businesses? In an article...
Loving Traffic?
Do you love traffic as much as I do?!? Yup, thought so! Texas Department of Transportation has earmarked $1.3B to ease traffic congestion according to a recent article in BisNow.com. The article has a fascinating map showing solutions for the TexaPlex triangle (DFW to...
US Office Vacancies Drop to New Low
Vacancy rates for US office properties fell to a new 7-year low of 13.9% by the end of 2015 according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield as reported by Bisnow. 700,000 new office jobs nationally helped spur the absorption rate which totaled 81.7 million square...
Giddy about DFW
People are downright giddy about DFW. I’ve always been and feel like these johnny-come-latelys are just now catching up! So many properties changed hands in 2015 and more are expected to in 2016. Here are just a few: • Williams Square, Las Colinas: $330MM • Galleria...
Useable vs. Rentable – What’s the Difference? Should You Care?
Useable and Rentable are terms used to describe the type of square feet (SF) in a lease space. Useable is the space that is actually available for the tenant to use exclusively. This is space in which you can put desks, employees, files, conference rooms,...
Victory Park – Still Trying
Victory Park is the mixed use development surrounding the American Airlines Center where the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars play their games. It opened to much fanfare years ago with the promise of a live-work-play environment with high density development....
The Apartment Market is On Fire, But Burning Tenants
I don't normally write about anything but office and warehouse properties since those are the ones which most of my clients lease or buy. But many of their employees live in apartments so I thought they might be interested in what's going on the Dallas Fort Worth...
The Meadows Building Sells, Set for Renovations
The Meadows Building has been a fixture on N. Central Expressway north of downtown Dallas since 1955 when Algus Meadows built it. It was one of the first office buildings outside downtown. The 9-story building is 167,000 square feet and has been home to many...
American Cities Grow Most Since Recession
CNN Money recently reported that U.S. cities had economic growth of 2.3% in 2014 which is the best it's been since 2006 - before the last big recession. In 2013, it was only 1.9%. These numbers come from the U.S. Commerce Department. They reported that big cities...
Galleria Towers Sell
Cannon Commercial bought the Galleria Towers several years ago and has just sold them to a fund controlled by Los Angeles-based CBRE Global Investors. Galleria Towers are 1.4 million square feet in three class A office buildings surrounded by the Galleria...
DFW Office Construction Booming!
If you have driven around the Dallas Fort Worth area at all, you have certainly seen all the cranes in the air at construction sites. It seems like there is a new building announced every few days. That got me wondering about how many buildings are really under...
Facelift Coming…to a Building, Not a Person
The Dallas Business Journal and the Texas Real Estate Research Center reported that Triten Real Estate Partners (Houston) and Convexity Properties (Chicago) have purchased 6060 & 6080 N. Central Expressway from Prescott Realty Group. These two...
Lawsuit Filed Challenging Property Tax System in Texas
According to the Associated Press, the City of Austin filed a lawsuit against the Texas state comptroller’s office, arguing that the state’s property appraisal system is unconstitutional because it provides no "equal and uniform" property value taxation. The lawsuit...
Most Creative Office Building Design in Dallas
Harwood International unveiled the concept drawing of its latest office building to be built in Uptown's Harwood District - The Rolex Building. The 7-story building will be 137,000 square feet and is expected to be complete in late 2016. The lead tenant will be Rolex...
New Coming to the Bishop Arts District
After working for 7 years to assemble land in the Bishop Arts District, the Nazerian family is about to break ground on a new development they are calling Bishop Arts Village. They are starting with utility work this month and may have the first two buildings coming...
Preston Hollow Village Expanding
Preston Hollow Village is a 42-acre mixed use development in the northwest corner of N. Central Expressway and Walnut Hill Lane which combines retails, restaurants, and office space. There are also plans for up to 1,200 residential units including apartments and...
Jobs Drive Commercial Real Estate Occupancy
The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University reported today that despite oil prices resulting in layoffs in the oil patch, Texas is still driving serious job growth. In the period from June 2014 to June 2015, Texas added 276,400 non-agricultural jobs. That's an...
Flexibility in Your Office Lease
Don't want to be tied down with a long-term lease? What are your options? There are times when flexibility is critical to an organization - entering a new market, acquiring or merging with other companies, launching a new product or service, or growing dramatically...
Hilti Relocates to Plano
Among all the hype of the large corporate relocations to Plano and Richardson, a smaller one came in under the radar. Hilti, the maker of power tools, has moved its US headquarters from Tulsa to Plano. They leased two floors in Legacy Tower at the corner of the Dallas...
Dallas Midtown – Dallas-sized Ambition
One of the most ambitious developments underway not just in Dallas, but in the country is called Dallas Midtown. It's a $4 billion project of Beck Ventures. The heart of the Dallas Midtown development is what has been known as Valley View Mall for the last few decades...
New Office Building Announced for Sam Rayburn Tollway in Allen
It seems that most of the new buildings announced in the last couple of years have been in west Plano, Frisco or Richardson. So it's nice to hear about something happening further north in Allen. TIG Real Estate Services is about to break ground on a $31 million...
Yet Another Office Building Announced for Plano
It seems like we hear about a new office building planned for Plano every week or so. This time the announcement came from Stream Realty Partners which is planning to build a 12-story office building at the Dallas North Tollway and Tennyson Parkway. It will be called...
Texas – Growth Capital of the USA
According to a recent article on CNN Money, Texas has 3 of the top 5 fastest growing cities in the USA according to U.S. Census Bureau data on population growth between 2013 and 2014. While New York City is number 1, Houston (#2) , Austin (#4) and San Antonio (#5) are...
Estoppels: What are they? Why should you care?
Lots of buildings are selling right now. It seems like every day there's another announcement of a building in the Dallas Fort Worth area trading hands. As part of the sale or refinancing of an office or warehouse building, tenants will be asked by the landlord to...
FAME OR FRIENDSHIP – WHICH DO CLIENTS VALUE THE MOST?
I came across the following quiz and thought it put things in perspective fairly well. I don't know who the author of this was, but I like it. Your thoughts? Take the following quiz: 1. Name the 5 wealthiest people in the world 2. Name the last 5 Heisman trophy...
Does Your Real Estate Agent Have a Specialty? Does it Matter?
Several years ago I was talking to a friend and mentioned that I had sold a house as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO). He was surprised that it was possible to buy or sell a house without a residential real estate agent. I was shocked that he didn't know he could trade real...
13 Ways to Make Your Office Space More Efficient (& Enjoyable Too)
This post is complements of my friend Buddy Francese who is a tenant representative in Austin. He and I are both members of the Alliance of Tenant Representatives and share information on how to serve clients better on a regular basis. This is his list of 13 ways to...
REATA Joins ATR
REATA Commercial Realty, Inc. recently joined The Alliance of Tenant Representatives. ATR is an invitation-only membership organization comprised of the top corporate real estate firms that represent only business space users - the tenants and buyers. To meet the...
Dallas = Heaven?
I always wondered if Dallas was heaven. Here is confirmation.
The $5 Billion Mile
Last week I blogged about the new $900 million development in Plano. Well the jealous sister to the north (Frisco) loves to upstage Plano and announced The $5 Billion Mile this week (website). The $5 Billion Mile is stands for the $5.4 billion estimated value of 4 new...
$900 Million Project Coming to Plano
After owning the land for 50 years, Rosewood Property Company announced this week that they will be developing 156 acres bounded by the George Bush Turnpike, Alma Drive, W. Plano Parkway and Custer Road. Calling it the Heritage Creekside, it will be a mixed use...
What More Customers? 4 Scientifically Proven Ways
What a dumb question, right? Who doesn't want more customers? But do you really? I want more customers, but the right ones. As a Real Estate Advisor & Tenant Advocate, the client I want the most is the company which already leases space in a high-rise office building...
A New Look
It has been over 9 years since I built my first website using a Yahoo template. It started with only 4 pages and grew to probably 30+ over the years. It was ugly, but it got results. Business consistently rolled in from people who found it on the internet. But it was...
The 9 Steps to Leasing Office Space
There is a lot to leasing office space. It's not just about calling the landlord and signing a lease. But while it's a complex process, it can be boiled down to 9 primary steps. I welcome your thoughts on this. Bob Gibbons Real Estate Advisor & Tenant Advocate...
