REATA Blog
News & Updates
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...