ATLANTA (May 5, 2014) - Steve Brown, the longtime commercial real estate reporter at The Dallas Morning News, called last week to ask whether I'd heard about an Atlanta investor possibily buying an iconic office tower in Dallas.
Good to see he nailed the story and scored a big scoop. Here it is:
Atlanta investor eyes one of downtown Dallas’ largest skyscrapers
Fountain Place is expected to sell for close to $200 million. (DMN files)
An Atlanta-based real estate investor has teamed up with one of the country’s largest life insurance firms to take a run at buying a downtown Dallas skyscraper.
The 60-story green-glass Fountain Place tower on Ross Avenue on downtown’s north side has been for sale since the end of last year.
Goddard Investment Group and an arm of Metropolitan Life Insurance are in talks to purchase the 1.2-million-square-foot office tower real estate brokers say.
The building – designed by I.M Pei – is expected to fetch close to $200 million.
Since 2011 the tower has been owned by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which hired HFF LP to market the building.
The iconic skyscraper was built in 1986 and is more than 85 percent leased. Major tenants in the tower include Tenet Healthcare, Wells Fargo Bank, Bracewell & Guiliani, Hunton & Williams and the General Services Administration.
Goddard and MetLife were among a group of potential buyers interested in the tower, brokers say.
As part of the investment deal, real estate brokers say the new owners plan to construct a large parking garage on the 1.5-acre vacant lot just north of Fountain Place.
Many of downtown’s largest buildings are adding parking as occupancy levels in the tower increase and the number of attractions downtown grows.
Goddard Investment Group is a privately held commercial real estate firm which a track record of doing large deals.
It owns the 22-story St. Paul Place office tower in downtown Dallas on Ross Avenue.
And it previously owned the 53-story Heritage Plaza in downtown Houston. Goddard sold the Houston tower in 2010 to Canadian investor Brookfield Properties for $325 million.
I’ve reached out to Goddard representatives to see if they want to comment about the potential purchase of Fountain Place.
Part of the new owner's plans for Fountain Place include a new garage, real estate brokers say.(HFF LP)
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