How Younger Partners Helped DCT Industrial Win Johnson Controls’ Real Estate Expansion in DFW

We love making deals and helping our clients. Candace Carlisle and the Dallas Business Journal spotlighted one of our big wins here.

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Landing Milwaukee-based heating and air conditioning giant Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) wasn’t easy, but the landlord and leasing team were able to make some in-house adjustments and help the company’s North Texas expansion.

The team — Denver-based DCT Industrial and Dallas-based Younger Partners — had to shuffle around some of the tenants at 1615 Diplomat Drive in Carrollton (pictured below) to make way for Johnson Controls, which also leases an adjacent facility.

1615diplomat

DCT Industrial’s Art Barkley said the landlord and development firm said another company in the building wanted to give up some space in the building and the move made sense.

“We strive to accommodate our customer’s every-evolving supply chain,” said Barkley, a senior vice president at DCT Industrial.

With that, Johnson Controls signed a lease for 55,000 square feet of space at the Carrollton facility, which sits in a central part of the region and helps the company move product from Fort Worth to Garland.

CBRE’s Jeremy Halbeck represented Johnson Controls in its real estate search. Younger Partners’ Carter Crow and JT Samford represented DCT Industrial in the real estate negotiations.

Crow, a real estate broker with Younger Partners, said the company could’ve gone to any landlord, but selected DCT Industrial because of the firm’s reputation.

“The space and location were great, but the landlord and owner makes a big difference,” he said. “A good landlord saves tenants a lot of headaches and knowing that DCT is a long-term holder is also reassuring.”

Meanwhile, DCT Industrial has two other new industrial projects underway in North Texas. They include:

DCT Freeport West

  • A 107,000-square-foot industrial facility, called DCT Freeport West, at 1204 W. Bethel Road (rendered above) that is slated for completion in the third quarter

DCT Waters Ridge

  • A 347,000-square-foot distribution center, called DCT Waters Ridge, at 514 Bennett Lane (rendered above) in Lewisville that is expected to be complete in the third quarter

Barkley said DCT Industrial is bullish on the economic outlook of North Texas and expects to continue landing leases like Johnson Controls.

The company owns interest in 5.52 million square feet in the Dallas-Fort Worth.

“Dallas has been one of the great job growth stories in the past 20 years and we don’t expect that to change,” he said.