Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

All that 80's marble was put in place well it seems cause Thanksgiving Tower took months chipping away at their pink stuff.

How long until we complain about the 80s style being covered up or stripped away... haha

Speaking of lobbies, this one seems to be taking forever to complete. Even though they are making obvious progress I asked about it when I was in there recently. I was told the completion date is supposed to be around March 2019.

The lobby is starting to take shape although March seems optimistic at this point. One thing for sure it will be bright. The giant pane of glass on the west side lets in a ton of sunshine, combined with all of the lighting inside it will give a very open feel. I would imagine with all of the cypress stress outside it will be a pretty cool look when it's green and all of the fountains are flowing. As for the garage they continue to set the supports for the glass curtain wall, looks like the south side facing Ross will get covered first.

The Wells Fargo motor bank/drive-thru across the street is closed and available for lease:

https://shopcompanies.com/properties/pd ... ells-fargo

Anyone know if the Wells Fargo branch at Fountain Place is remaining?

Would be great if this could be something more than just a drive-thru something

The interior continues to take shape, some of the new lighting has made an appearance, very unique long pieces of lighted glass span from floor to ceiling on the outside walls of the elevator banks. Other than that the white marble looking material is going up. Very clean look. They say they are nearing completion but still looks like they have a lot to do.

Tenet Healthcare could leave downtown Dallas in office consolidation

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... solidation

One of downtown Dallas' best-known business tenants is pondering a move.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. a decade ago moved into the landmark Fountain Place skyscraper on Ross Avenue, where more than 500 employees occupy almost nine floors of space.

But with the firm focused on cutting costs and improving its bottom line, real estate brokers say Tenet is scouting the market along the Dallas North Tollway and in other locations for potential office sites.

One of the potential consolidation sites for Tenet is the high-rise International Plaza office campus on the tollway near the Dallas Galleria. The 3-building development previously housed operations for JPMorgan Chase.

Tenet is FP's largest tenant and the EPA moved from FP to Renaissance Tower earlier this year.

I'm sure losing Tenet would not be the result FP's investors were hoping for with the (still ongoing. . . ) building renovation.

Too bad Valley View Mall isn't ready to lead with this big tenant.

dukemeredith wrote:Tenet Healthcare could leave downtown Dallas in office consolidation

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... solidation

One of downtown Dallas' best-known business tenants is pondering a move.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. a decade ago moved into the landmark Fountain Place skyscraper on Ross Avenue, where more than 500 employees occupy almost nine floors of space.

But with the firm focused on cutting costs and improving its bottom line, real estate brokers say Tenet is scouting the market along the Dallas North Tollway and in other locations for potential office sites.

One of the potential consolidation sites for Tenet is the high-rise International Plaza office campus on the tollway near the Dallas Galleria. The 3-building development previously housed operations for JPMorgan Chase.

Tenet is FP's largest tenant and the EPA moved from FP to Renaissance Tower earlier this year.

I'm sure losing Tenet would not be the result FP's investors were hoping for with the (still ongoing. . . ) building renovation.

Although this would be a major loss for the tower and downtown’s already high office vacancy rate, I’m not too worried about FP’s ability to attract another large tenant. With the current renovation, the residential tower next door nearing completion and the location on Ross, FP should be high on the list for potential relocations in downtown.

Mgreen15 wrote:Although this would be a major loss for the tower and downtown’s already high office vacancy rate, I’m not too worried about FP’s ability to attract another large tenant. With the current renovation, the residential tower next door nearing completion and the location on Ross, FP should be high on the list for potential relocations in downtown.

http://www.fountainplace.com/available-space.html

FP's vacancy is already pretty high, especially with the EPA's relocation (see the grey space labeled "available February 2019). If Tenet leaves, too, then that would put the building at less than 50% leased.

That would be ironic, as Tenet was in one of the office buildings at Galleria North for a while before moving downtown to Fountain Place.

Wish a company like this would consolidate in a new downtown office tower.

Mos of the lobby glass on the east side has been placed, lots of fun watching them lift those giant panes of glass to put into place.

It's official. Tenet and its subsidiaries are consolidating to International Plaza in Farmer's Branch.

So Tenet is leaving and EPA is out just as they try to start winding down their remodel project which has taken two years and still isn't complete. Should be a bunch of available space over there.

What a shame. With over half of the building vacant, I don't expect the retail space in the new parking garage to fill anytime soon.

Well, that's why they do that kind of renovations cause they know tenants are leaving and the by the time they are out the door they are finishing up construction and have plenty of space in a renovated tower to show off. With space in Uptown getting tight and the apartment tower rising next door Fountain Place will find new tenants soon.

Wow. That would make Fountain Place 66% vacant.

For the record, CBRE tells us that the Class A vacancy rate in Uptown is 15.7% with total Class A availability of 19.5%

LBK2013 wrote:It's official. Tenet and its subsidiaries are consolidating to International Plaza in Farmer's Branch.

Gross. Baby boomers causing more damage before they finally bow out. As a millenial, I know that we are all just DYING to work in the gorgeous, exciting suburban office campuses.

Tells me FP owners must be bullish on the market and didn't lower the rent just to keep Tenet.

Tenet will still be paying full rent in Fountain Place for five years. That's how long is left on their lease.

Tordown wrote:Tenet will still be paying full rent in Fountain Place for five years. That's how long is left on their lease.

I doubt that is the case. There is most likely a breakout clause that would allow them to terminate the contract early with conditions.

All of this vacancy could create an opportunity for a company to plant their flag downtown in one of the most architecturally significant buildings. I am not sure at this point what we can do to make downtown more attractive for business. Maybe just convert it all into living who knows. I heard a rumor that a very large corporation was offered to move in the metro to downtown and be given a large tax incentive over several years resulting in a large savings on a lease but the company declined the offer.

I would think this space would be really attractive, especially with all that new apartment space going up across the plaza. Granted not everyone elects to live there but but if you did it would sure be convenient.

South face of the parking garage is finally getting some glass.

Tnexster wrote:South face of the parking garage is finally getting some glass.

Beat me to it, saw that as well!

The lobby renovation is largely complete, most of the interior work appears to be finished and they are starting to reassemble the plaza area and were working on one of the fountain areas this morning. Looks very nice, and very bright. Between the sun and lights you almost need sunglasses in the lobby.

I wonder if there's a big company looking for a 500,000 sq ft block of prime office space.

Apparently it's 700,000 sf

Downtown Dallas' landmark Fountain Place tower sports a new look inside

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... ook-inside

One of those giant panes of glass is already broken, shattered from top to bottom but still standing. Looks like somebody took a shot at it.

Snapped a cool pic of the parking garage with some glass finally up and the the towers in the background.

While the remodel project is complete and has largely been finished for quite some time apparently leasing in Fountain Place has not been so great. I have heard Tenet still holds that lease and would have to sub that space out but now that Tenet has gone away the one business in the retail space has been hurt. So, apparently Ascension Annex is leaving next month. That will leave them with zero retail space leased under that new large and not very well used parking garage.

Bummer to hear. Despite this, they should be positioned well for the longer term (small consolation). This general area will probably be one of the busiest areas for development in urban Dallas, and with their recent remodel, Fountain Place should be well-positioned to capture new leases. The area should feel a lot less "dead" once AMLI starts leasing up and unrecognizable if/when the other nearby developments start going.

I wonder if they are hurt or improved by Field Street development if the initial phase gets off the ground.

Probably a toss up. Construction can bring a lot of headache - especially for retail - but increased development will up this area's sex appeal. I think uptown, particularly the VP / Harwood / lower McKinney area of uptown is a good case in point. Virtually all of the new and existing office developments here just saw faster lease ups as development hit a point that made the area much more desirable.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:I wonder if they are hurt or improved by Field Street development if the initial phase gets off the ground.

I would say hurt, although an iconic building it is decades old now and fresh new space across the street may be preferable. You bring up a good point, wonder if that is already hurting them.

I would think to have more things close by aka activity could help though. Shops, retail, restaurants connecting the Museum better to the decades-old office tower through the Field street project. Plus their own newly built retail space could benefit from rising boats nearby. I wonder how different the rents would be considering one project would be brand new construction and the overall effect of renovations and it is a signature tower in Dallas.

Ultimately if Headington would build something on his property as well I imagine Fountain Place would be better off. Fountain Place is sort of an island only occupied by fast racing cars on the access roads and highway ramps. It's not a walkable neighborhood and the YMCA sounds like it will be gone before long and sold before the new buyer knows what they are going to build in its place. Then there is the outdated looking Fairmount Hotel next door...

The Fairmount would look a thousand percent better and true to its original architecture by painting over that horrible pink color with just a simple good white paint and removing the ridiculous facade over the valet entrance..

Cbdallas wrote:The Fairmount would look a thousand percent better and true to its original architecture by painting over that horrible pink color with just a simple good white paint and removing the ridiculous facade over the valet entrance..

Yes but it would look even better if they just built a new gleaming 45 story hotel tower somewhere nearby.

The Fairmount has got to do away with those bare, ugly, pink, windowless strips of nothingness on both of its towers. Those strips could use a new paint job or stone cladding, perhaps LED light strips/video boards, even aesthetically pleasing ad banners..... Anything. Right now they look like cheap, flimsy towers with a pink stucco finish. How can a hotel that nice look so cheap from the outside? The previous white finish looked less outdated than what they have now. Certainly isn't doing the Fountain Place/AMLI any favors in transforming the area.

The Field Street development was/is supposed to address the demand for larger amts of office space that frequently can't be met by what's in Uptown. My guess is Fountain Place won't have trouble luring some larger tenants over the coming months and years.

And now they have two fresh office products nearby to compete with.

What rates are they asking at Fountain Place? I would think they would be at least 20% less than all the product going up around them (probably closer to 30%). To me, that doesn't necessarily make them competitors. Instead, having more activity near them makes them more attractive.
For the longest time, Fountain Place was arguably the most significant high rise in Dallas. That alone was enough to allow it to market itself. But with so much new product going up, it's going to take a supporting neighborhood to keep it viable. We may not be there yet, but it seems just a few years away if they can hold out that long.

I imagine the proposed hotel tower as part of this development won't happen if they can't sign on some tenants and seem some positive return on their already investment.

Speaking of the hotel, they put up additional renderings near the empty retail space.

Also heard from somebody in the building that the leasing company started a free happy hour event down on the ground floor for tenants which competed unfairly with the only retail tenant they had. Nice work.

The new ground-floor tenant lounge in FP also has a pretty fancy espresso machine using Starbucks coffee beans. While Ascension’s coffee is superior, the availability of free Starbucks has certainly impacted the number of times I go to Ascension.

dukemeredith wrote:The new ground-floor tenant lounge in FP also has a pretty fancy espresso machine using Starbucks coffee beans. While Ascension’s coffee is superior, the availability of free Starbucks has certainly impacted the number of times I go to Ascension.

Also heard that AMLI will offer some kind of coffee service when they open which also helped kill Ascension. Unfortunately for myself I can no longer stomach Starbucks.

Architect office lands on top of downtown Dallas’ Fountain Place tower
Rouch Architects takes high flying space left behind by Tenet Healthcare

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... ace-tower/

This is good news: 400 new workers coming to Fountain Place!!

Major Insurance Provider Ditches the Suburbs for Downtown Skyscraper

https://www.dmagazine.com/commercial-re ... kyscraper/