DALLAS FORT WORTH | Urban + Suburban P & C

[Dale]

Things are heating up.

And I would have to assume that these hundreds of hundreds of new rentals are going to seed new restaurants and shops.

[skys the limit]

Originally Posted by Dale

Things are heating up.

And I would have to assume that these hundreds of hundreds of new rentals are going to seed new restaurants and shops.

^^^^^^^^

That is clearly the expected result with thousands and thousands of new residents taking up residence in Downtown and near Downtown Dallas.

The boom right now in residential growth for Downtown and near Downtown Dallas is really very impressive and with it will come the demand for additional services (restaurants, shops, etc.) to support that significant population growth.

[Dallas Snob]

Latest stats were that over 40,000 people now live in the downtown "area". I live in the renovated historic Art Deco Dallas Power & Light Building and there is so much going on it's impossible to keep track of. It's fun seeing the Jule renovations though. The developer that owns my building also renovated a large white marble office building two blocks up the street and opened it for residential a few months ago. It's 100% leased already. Now he's working on the attached Art Deco Dallas Electric Company building and doing the same thing. The Continental Building is about soon goingt o finish renovations and more poeple will be moving in there.

Having said that, there are still big hurdles to overcome. The Statler Hilton STILL stands empty (though cleaned) with no tenants signed on. The last I read about the Elm (last month) is that without a signed hotel or office tenant, they are not moving forward with any renovations. KPMG has announced that they are vacating their downtown office as well. And the UNT plans of renovating Old City Hall into a law school are dependant upon the State giving them a $13 million grant....and the odds of that happening are pretty much nill. The sad fact about downtown is that we cannot seem to attract BUSINESSES to move there...and more move out than move in. And with such a burgeoning population of educated people, you would think that there would be a waiting line. I wish the tide would turn.

Restaurants keep opening and are successful. But the Urban Market grocery store was not. We would LOVE to see something like Old Navy move downtown near Neiman's, or an Amercian Eagle's but those chances are slim at best. My hope is that as more people move downtown, we start making a LOT of noise about bringing in services we need. : ))

[Dale]

So, Uptown prospers while the CBD continues to languish ?

[Dallas Snob]

Well, kind-of...not really. Businesses seem to prefer locating to Uptown better, though it's attached to downtown.

Both locations do great for new residences.

Both locations are doing well for restaurants

Downtown does not do well in regards to retail. There's no "mass" of stores located in one area...and the underground should be filled with cement in my way of thinking. But the funny thing is, as you walk around downtown, there's not an area where there are multiple storefronts available for retail...so a shopping "area" would be difficult to create. Most of the good ones are restaurants. On Commerce Street for instance, you have the Adolphus Hotel, the Joule Hotel and the Magnolia Hotel all next to each other with zero retail space on the street. My building on Commerce has Jos A Banks in it, Fuse restaurant and then a beauty salon on the corner (Too bad!) but at least it's full of tenants.

[skys the limit]

Originally Posted by Dale

So, Uptown prospers while the CBD continues to languish ?

^^^^^^^^
Not exactly correct.

The Dallas CBD has turned the corner on office leasing. It has been posting positive net gains for the last few quarters, so more companies are in fact moving in and/or expanding leases in the CBD than not.

And the aforementioned explosion of residential is occurring at the same time. Plus the bevy of older commercial buildings being renovated into residential and/or hotel purposes are going to come off the rolls as empty commercial buildings which will drive the CBD office vacancy rate down significantly in the upcoming months.

Headington's expansion of the Joule Hotel and the corresponding significant retail he is adding on both Main and Commerce Streets will be a very positive move for continued growth in the CBD. The just opened Klyde Warren and Belo Parks, along with the existing Main Street Gardens, are going to become major catalysts for further growth in office leasing as well as continued strong residential growth. The growth and expansion of DART, with the CBD being its central focal point, has been very successful.

Downtown and Uptown have become the pre-eminent work, live, play destination for the Dallas metro area. As an example, several companies that had left the CBD years ago are now relocating from Las Colinas back into the core. Uptown is the primary location for the growth in office leasing but the CBD is on the upswing as well.

Is there room for improvement? The answer is clearly yes.

But the elements to turn the CBD leasing market around are in place and the positive effects are already being felt, to wit the 3rd Quarter Transwestern Office Market Report:

Total Net absorption for the entire DFW metroplex was 432,000 square feet. (+335,000 square feet on the Dallas side, +97,000 square feet on the Ft. Worth side).

YTD numbers: 1,301,000 square feet on the Dallas side and 120,000 square feet on the Fort Worth side, for a total DFW YTD net absorption of 1.4 Million square feet.

Overall office vacancy rate for the metroplex is 16.9%, down from 17.0% in the 2nd quarter and down from 17.8% 3rd Q 2011.

3rd quarter total net absorption for the Dallas CBD was 114,000 square feet, with 119,000 square feet net absorption in Class A space.

3rd quarter for Uptown, 79,000 square feet, including net absorption of Class A space of 71,000 square feet.

YTD: CBD net absorption of 224,000 square feet, including 190,000 square feet of Class A space; Uptown YTD net absorption of 354,000 square feet, including 327,000 square feet of Class A space.

For the 3rd quarter, the 5 strongest performing submarkets in terms of net absorption were North Dallas Tollway (+189,000 square feet), Office Center/LBJ Extension (+139,000), Grand Prairie (+128,000), CBD (+114,000), and Allen/McKinney (+97,000).

You can get to Transwestern's report here: http://www.transwestern.net/Market-R...%20Outlook.pdf

[Dale]

Okay, good to hear. Maybe I shouldn't hang around dallasmetropolis. It's generally morose over there. At least that's the general impression I get.

And I can't help but think that Kyle Warren Park is significant, at least symbolically, in that it provides for a seamless connection between Uptown and CBD.

[Owlhorn]

Originally Posted by Dale

Okay, good to hear. Maybe I shouldn't hang around dallasmetropolis. It's generally morose over there. At least that's the general impression I get.

And I can't help but think that Kyle Warren Park is significant, at least symbolically, in that it provides for a seamless connection between Uptown and CBD.

we've been notified that some of us need a dose of reality. So any and every negative thing is emphasized and harped on by certain members. Its still a very informative site, with a lot of great info you won't find here, but certain posters make sure everything is taken with a grain of salt.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Owlhorn

we've been notified that some of us need a dose of reality. So any and every negative thing is emphasized and harped on by certain members. Its still a very informative site, with a lot of great info you won't find here, but certain posters make sure everything is taken with a grain of salt.

I understand but am guessing that the cautious sorts are still privately disappointed when things don't pan out. This is why I counsel people to go ahead and get their hopes up.

[Thymant]

Originally Posted by Dale

Okay, good to hear. Maybe I shouldn't hang around dallasmetropolis. It's generally morose over there. At least that's the general impression I get.

And I can't help but think that Kyle Warren Park is significant, at least symbolically, in that it provides for a seamless connection between Uptown and CBD.

I agree with u in the aspects to that site, generally it seem that there's lots of negativity towards many projects. I mean its okay to give constructive critizism and to call out the misses and faults of certain projects, but overall its just seems to be a group of highly opinionated complaints about everything and most projects no matter how much they bring seem to be good enough on that site. But overall the uptown and victory park districts seem to be booming.

[Owlhorn]

Originally Posted by Dale

I understand but am guessing that the cautious sorts are still privately disappointed when things don't pan out. This is why I counsel people to go ahead and get their hopes up.

Those that are really negative only seem to show up on threads once something doesn't make it or doesn't look likely. I think its a combo of negative nellys, those who wish for old Dallas and some Houston transplants that like to throw up stats that obviously mean nothing to developers. Really disappointed in the direction things have headed. I encourage more people to join and turn that around.

[TTU Arch]

Originally Posted by Dale

Okay, good to hear. Maybe I shouldn't hang around dallasmetropolis. It's generally morose over there. At least that's the general impression I get.

An impression that is well deserved. The moderators do a poor job over there reigning it in, but only step in when comments go too far. I go there b/c it still is a good source, but no reason to post. Believe it or not it use to be positive. Its known the Texas pride can get in the way, and there are a few of others from other Texas cities that interject quite a bit on the DFW forum mixed with several Debbie Downers from DFW. The DFW sub category on this forum use to be pretty active, but I've notice the activity has dropped to a trickle. Does not have to do with the lack of projects, but I think the people that would frequent these forums for DFW got turned off by the negative individuals that seem to argue for the sake of arguing. All to see those negative comments / bickering at the dallasmetropolis forum just don't add up.

[skys the limit]

Dallas 1 of 3 cities to fully recover from recession, Brookings says

Dallas Business Journal by Lance Murray
Date: Friday, November 30, 2012, 7:41am CST


Dallas is one of three U.S. cities that have fully come back since the end of the 2007-2009 economic recession, according to a report released today by the Brookings Institution.

The other U.S. cities to recover are Pittsburgh, Pa., and Knoxville, TN.

According to the report, Dallas "is outperforming the United States on employment change, but is lagging on GDP per capita change," and ranks 91st in the world in Brookings' Economic Performance Rankings with a 1.6 percent rise in GDP and a 2.1 percent increase in employment in 2011-2012.

Dallas has a GDP of $368 billion with a GDP per capita of $55,287.

Dallas ranked 235th from 2007 to 2011 and 99th from 1993 to 2007, Brookings said.

Reuters reported that Dallas reached its pre-recession employment levels in the last quarter of 2012.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/bl...y-recover.html

[skys the limit]

The ultra-sleek new 25 story Cesar Pelli Cesar tower in the Uptown District of Downtown Dallas has more activity moving it forward.

CTroyMathis on Dallas Metropolis reports that soil samples have been conducted on the construction site for the new tower all throughout the day today, 11-30-12.

This tower seems to definitely be moving forward! It will be located a couple of blocks north of the new 42 story Museum Tower.

[Dale]

I know it was first reported at 20 stories. Has it been confirmed at 25 ? If so, this could be a 400-footer given contemporary floor heights.

[skys the limit]

The project was first announced as two towers with the taller at 20 stories. The parcel was zoned for 240 feet tall. Then the developers requested a variance and was granted to 335 feet. The latest announcement was 23 stories but when you count the floors in the rendering there are 2 partial floors angling sharply upward after the 23rd full floor. The lobby is 2 stories tall. So in reality it would be 25 stories and probably will take advantage of the variance to go to 335 feet tall.

[Dale]

Gotcha, and happy to see that it appears to be forging ahead. Should be very prominent in its area.

[colemonkee]

I really like the Cesar Pelli tower, especially how it meets the street with retail. So many of the newer towers in uptown don't have a very urban street level, and this one is a refreshing change.

Dallas Snob, one of my old co-workers lives or used to live in your building. Small world.

[skys the limit]

Below is an updated photo of the 42 story Museum Tower skyscraper courtesy of CTroyMathis on Dallas Metropolis, taken 11-30-12.

He reports that the pool is filled and the lawn is in place up on the podium. The front drive/entrance/etc. is finishing out. The side facing Woodall Rodgers off-ramp and Pearl has a lot of foliage planted and positioned to climb further up fencing.

The new Klyde Warren deck park at the foot of Museum Tower forms a perfect segueway between the tower and Uptown.

[Dale]

So, will the new Pelli tower literally hang over the new park ?