Shelbourne Buys 1.2 MSF Dallas Office Property

Plaza of the Americas underwent $26 million in renovations over the past decade. Image courtesy of Newmark

M-M Properties has sold Plaza of The Americas, an office asset spanning 1.2 million square feet in downtown Dallas. New York-based Shelbourne Global Solutions acquired the property, The Dallas Morning News reported. Newmark brokered the deal on behalf of the seller and arranged the acquisition financing.

Completed in 1980, Plaza of the Americas comprises two 25-story towers connected via a glass atrium. It features 23,850-square-foot floorplates and includes 120,000 square feet of retail space, along with an eight-story parking garage. M-M Properties had acquired it in 2011, CommercialEdge data shows.

Over the past decade, the property underwent $26 million in renovations and the new ownership plans to implement further improvements starting later this year. Tenants include Saville, Westmount Realty Capital and Defense Contract Management Agency, according to CommercialEdge data, as well as Federal Deposit Insurance which has recently signed a lease for 163,005 square feet.

Located at 600 and 700 Pearl St., the towers are in downtown Dallas’ Arts District, within walking distance of the Dallas Museum of Art and numerous other entertainment options. The property is close to Interstate 345 and some 6 miles from Dallas Love Field Airport.

Moderate activity in Dallas’ office market

Newmark Vice Chairmen Chris Murphy, Robert Hill and Gary Carr facilitated the transaction on behalf of the seller and arranged the financing. In prepared remarks, Murphy mentioned that this was the largest office sale in Dallas this year so far. Recently, the same team brokered the sale of a historic building in the city’s downtown.

Year-to-date through September, Dallas-Fort Worth registered $628 million in transaction volume, at an average price per square foot of $185, a recent CommercialEdge report shows. The vacancy rate was up 20 basis points year-over-year, to 19 percent as of September—the only southern market besides Atlanta to record a higher vacancy than the 17.8 percent national figure, according to the same source.