Bradford’s 91,334-sf Leasing Rally Stabilizes North Dallas Office Building for Its Sale

DALLAS – Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services has wound down its leasing assignment at the 403,120-sf Lakeside Square in North Dallas, where 91,334 sf in five transactions have played a crucial role in the class A office property's recent sale. The five leases were kept low key as YPI Park Central LLC of Woodland Hills, Calif., prepared to sell its last asset in Dallas/Fort Worth. The 18-story building at 12377 Merit Dr. was sold in mid-December to New York-based JMC Holdings. "These deals created stability that made the asset attractive for a potential purchaser," says Melanie Hughes, senior vice president of Dallas-based Bradford. "We were honored to have the opportunity to work with YPI on this assignment for the last few years." Hughes and Bradford colleagues Richmond Collinsworth, first vice president, and Bret Cooper, market director, have been leasing Lakeside Square since spring 2015. Occupancy has hovered 80% during the Bradford team's leasing reign. "Lakeside Square is attractive to tenants who want a class A building inside 635 and don't want to pay the higher rates of Preston Center and Uptown," Hughes explains. The class A building is situated midway between LBJ Freeway (635) and Central Expressway in the Park Central corridor. Close by are the Dallas Galleria, NorthPark Mall and a critical mass of high-profile retail and restaurants. Helping to facilitate the sale was an early renewal by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, which leased 23,718 sf. Within weeks of the sale, the Bradford team also flipped three tenants from sublease to direct leases: Aethon Energy Operating LLC, 47,679 sf; Browning Oil Co. Inc., 11,778; and Clearwater Payments LLC, 6,463 sf. Equitable Life Insurance Co. also inked a 1,696-sf expansion prior to the closing. Hughes, Collinsworth and Cooper brokered the stack of deals for YPI. The tenants' representatives were Russell Trenary of Trenary & Associates Inc. (Aethon Energy); Daniel Paterson of Swearingen Realty (BCBS) John Beach of Jackson & Cooksey (Browning Oil); Anthony Bolner of SDC Technology Services LLC (Clearwater Payments); and Kimarie Ankenbrand of Jones Lang LaSalle (Equitable Life).