KDC, Estein Plan 400 KSF Office Tower for Downtown Dallas

February 17, 2012
By Nicholas Ziegler, News Editor

KDC Real Estate Developments and Investments, in a partnership with Orlando-based Estein & Associates, has announced its plans to develop a 400,000-square-foot office tower in Downtown Dallas. The structure is to be located in the Victory Park development.

Citing tenant demand as the “one key element” behind the decision to construct a new office tower in Downtown Dallas, Lance Fair, COO of Estein & vice president of Victory Park, noted that “available office space is low and demand from users remains high.”

The 23-story building, which will have at least 15 floors of office space above lower-level parking, will sit in the 75-acre mixed-use development that surrounds the American Airlines Center sports arena. Victory Park is currently owned by UST XVI Victory Park, a German real estate fund based in Orlando. Existing office buildings include the 20-story, 436,000-square-foot One Victory Park and two-building Victory Plaza, which together are 95 percent leased. Tenants include Carson Private Capital, Cumulus Media Inc. and Hillwood Development.

The Dallas office market remains stronger than most of the nation, according to a fourth-quarter 2011 report by services firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc. Unemployment sits at 7.5 percent, a drop from 0.8 percent a year prior and well under the national average of 8.2 percent. During the quarter, construction began on the first spec office structure the city had seen since 2008, leaving quite a bit of room for development.

Overall absorption totaled 1.7 million square feet for the quarter, according to the report, which also noted that “growth occurred throughout all major industries with professional and business services, information, financial activities and manufacturing being the most active.”

KDC has targeted this fall to begin construction with completion slated for late 2014. KDC will pursue LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the project. BOKA Powell will serve as the project architect.