Dallas Real Estate Regains Momentum in 2012
By Steve Brown, Dallas Morning News, 12-27-12
The recession is in the rearview mirror, and North Texas real estate developers are moving forward with new deals.
Office and warehouse construction is picking up. Apartment building shows no sign of a slowdown. Even the housing market, which has recovered by fits and starts, has turned the corner in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The combination of solid job growth and an increasing population fueled strong demand for all types of real estate in 2012.
And the outlook for next year is just as sanguine — assuming the folks in Washington don’t put the economy in reverse.
Biggest game changer: Klyde Warren Park
Klyde Warren Park bridged downtown with Uptown and is expected to draw development to the Central Business District
for decades to come. Dallas-area residents have enthusiastically embraced the green space.
Three blocks of bushes, trees and lawns erased the canyon dividing downtown Dallas from Uptown.
And by blurring the line between Dallas’ hottest real estate market and the older central business district, the park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway should be a big boost for downtown’s renaissance.
The public-private sector project will spur real estate development and investment in the area for decades to come.
Biggest turnaround: Victory Park
Developer KDC plans a 23-story office tower (shown in a rendering) in Victory Park, which is finally taking off with apartments and commercial construction.
Since stumbling out of the starting gates, Dallas’ Victory Park project is getting its second wind.
Construction of hundreds of apartments and more office and retail tenants should bring a flood of folks into the development on the northwest corner of downtown.
After years of making headlines because of store closings, foreclosures and loan defaults, Victory Park is set to generate some good news in the year ahead.
Highest sales price: Encana Oil & Gas Tower
The recent sale of the 12-story Encana Oil & Gas tower in West Plano set a record for office building transactions.
The new high-rise sold for $120 million, an eye-popping $376 per square foot — head and shoulders above other recent first-class office sales in North Texas.
Cole Real Estate Investments paid top price for the building because of its
prime tenant and high-profile location on the Dallas North Tollway.
Biggest building boom: New Apartment Construction
Apartment construction boomed throughout 2012.
You’d be wrong if you thought the apartment building binge was running out of gas.
More than 20,000 apartments are under construction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, more than in any other U.S. market.
And developers show no sign of easing up when it comes to new deals.
Current apartment building totals still come nowhere close to what they were in the 1980s, when more than 45,000 units were completed in just one year.
Greatest market comeback: Home Market
After several false starts, the Dallas-Fort Worth home market took off in 2012 with higher prices and a double-digit increase in sales.
The number of houses on the market in North Texas has fallen to its lowest point in more than a decade.
And home foreclosures are down substantially.
Homebuilders are having a hard time keeping up with demand because of a pinch on building lots and labor.
Brightest addition to skyline: 42 story Museum Tower
This rapier-thin, pearlescent high-rise is one of the most striking additions in decades to the downtown skyline.
The deluxe condo is just the kind of development Arts District planners envisioned when they planned the neighborhood.
But a nasty catfight over reflections cast by the tower has clouded Museum Tower’s impact on the market.
Biggest office tenant: State Farm Insurance
Illinois-based State Farm Insurance has gobbled up enough office space in the Dallas area this year to fill a good-size downtown high-rise.
State Farm leased an entire office building in Richardson, then rented two more in Las Colinas.
Now the insurance giant has signed on to be the anchor office tenant in a $1.5 billion mixed-use project in the Telecom Corridor.
Biggest loss: Downtown’s Thomas Building
Dallas’ grand old Thomas Building was built as a palace for a cotton tycoon.
The 88-year-old building on Wood Street was prized by preservationists for its decorative stone-and-brick exterior and storied past. But after sitting empty for years, the landmark was imploded in November to make more room for parking cars.
Biggest boost for southern Dallas County: Dallas Inland Port boom
After several years of almost no building, North Texas industrial development is surging back with new deals.
And most of them are along the Interstate 20 corridor in southern Dallas County.
Major distribution centers have been announced for Quaker Oats and cosmetics maker L’Oreal Group.
And more projects are pending for companies including automaker BMW.
Greatest potential for 2013: New Office Tower Construction
After a long drought, office developers are poised to crank out new buildings starting next year.
Most of the construction starts will be in Dallas’ Uptown district and along the Dallas North Tollway in Collin County. Less than half of what’s being talked about will probably get built. But with the local economy heating up, prime office space will soon be in short supply in some business districts.
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/c...um-in-2012.ece
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