Author: Younger Partners
South Dallas Industrial
Over the last ten years Dallas has gone through a transformations of shorts. The market crashed to be slowly bounce back again… bigger than ever. With the land around the airport running out and companies moving to the DFW area right and left… South Dallas is priming itself to benefit from all the momentum.
Read more: South Dallas Industrial 
Property Rights and Gun Rights in Texas
Texas is one of many states that allow citizens to carry concealed handguns and has done so since 1996; almost 20 years. In January of this year, Texans who have a Concealed Handgun License (“CHL”) will also have the right to open carry handguns. What does this mean for property owners?
There are two areas that the Texas Legislature is loath to mess with…and that is gun rights and property rights. As the legislature has given CHL licensed Texans the right to carry a handgun, they also recognize that not all businesses and/or property owners want to have people on site carrying guns. Property owners still retain the right to ask anyone to leave their property and if they don’t comply, the police can arrest or cite them for a criminal trespass offense.
The legislation allowed for a property or business owner to post signs (called 30.06 [CHL] and 30.07 [open carry] signs) at all entry points stating the property owners desire to prohibit concealed or open carry of handguns on their property. If a person violates this, they are subject to arrest for a criminal offense. The signs are not a requirement, but do give advance notice of the business or property owners desires.
Is this something that most property owners should do? What if I have tenants that want to do something different?
We are recommending that property owners take a noninterference position unless there is a good reason to do so. As for tenants, most owners are leaving it to them to determine if they want to bar handguns from their space. Unfortunately for property owners, there is no safe harbor for them to reside if something happens and it could be reasonable presumed that a person with a handgun could have prevented injury to innocents. Of course the opposite could be true if someone was injured by a licensed person with a handgun and the owner did not bar them from the property.
It seems the safest position for property owners is to stand down and not usurp the rights our Legislature and Governor decided to confer upon the citizenry. This way they can argue that they did not grant any right nor did they stand in the way of the open or concealed carry rights.
Unfortunately, the best decision will likely be decided by the courts after some tragedy occurs.
Texas lost 13,700 jobs in August, the second monthly job loss this year
How landlords, employers should prepare for open carry of handguns in Texas
As of January 1, 2016 Texans with concealed carry licenses will have the right to open carry handguns. This puts Texas landlords in the position of having to make a decision as to whether they will prohibit open carry at their properties. Should they choose to prohibit open carry they must post the proper signage then take steps to communicate and educate their tenants.
RagingWire, NTT Communications land 1M SF data center campus in Garland
Sacramento-based RagingWire Data Centers and NTT Communications have bought a large parcel of land in Garland near the Telecom Corridor to build a 1 million-square-foot, 80-megawatt data center campus.
The deal is the latest in a series of data centers that have hit Dallas-Fort Worth in the past year
Uptown Building Announcement Boom Continues
Uptown building announcement boom continues. This is the 7th new building planned and announced for Uptown. If all buildings are built the total will add 2,600,000 square feet of space to the submarket. Currently there is 1,657,000 square feet of office space under construction or renovation in the Uptown submarket including the north edge of the CBD.
Developer Harwood International plans new Uptown office tower
Why the Dallas Real Estate Market Is Hot
It’s no secret that Dallas has seen big up cycles in the real estate market before. But this time, things are different. We are seeing existing tenants expand without tacking on extra space they don’t need, as well as monumental corporate relocations to the area. Want to know why experts are calling 2015 the hottest Dallas Real Estate Market in decades? Our very own, Kathy Permenter, along with some of Dallas’ top industry experts comment on why workers, companies, and investors are continuing to flock to North Texas. Read more here:
Workers, companies, and investors are continuing to flock to North Texas
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — AUGUST 2015
August is the 59th consecutive month for job growth in the U.S. economy. Employers added 173,000 jobs in August. This brings the yearly total of jobs created to 1,652,000. The unemployment rate remains low at 5.1%. The sectors experiencing growth are health care and financial services. The manufacturing and mining sectors lost jobs.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — AUGUST 2015
The Best Cities For Jobs 2015
By Joel Kotkin and Michael Shires
Since the U.S. economy imploded in 2008, there’s been a steady shift in leadership in job growth among our major metropolitan areas. In the earliest years, the cities that did the best were those on the East Coast that hosted the two prime beneficiaries of Washington’s resuscitation efforts, the financial industry and the federal bureaucracy. Then the baton was passed to metro areas riding the boom in the energy sector, which, if not totally dead in its tracks, is clearly weaker.
Right now, job creation momentum is the strongest in tech-oriented metropolises and Sun Belt cities with lower costs, particularly the still robust economies of Texas.
Topping our annual ranking of the best big cities for jobs are the main metro areas of Silicon Valley: the San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco Metropolitan Division, followed by San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, swapping their positions from last year.
Our rankings are based on short-, medium- and long-term job creation, going back to 2003, and factor in momentum — whether growth is slowing or accelerating. We have compiled separate rankings for America’s 70 largest metropolitan statistical areas (those with nonfarm employment over 450,000), which are our focus this week, as well as medium-size metro areas (between 150,000 and 450,000 nonfarm jobs) and small ones (less than 150,000 nonfarm jobs) in order to make the comparisons more relevant to each category. (For a detailed description of our methodology, click here.)
FORBES
Dallas News: Forecast: Dallas-Fort Worth will be a top office leasing market in 2014
By Steve Brown
A new 2014 forecast predicts that the Dallas-Fort Worth area will be one of the top leasing markets in the country this year.
Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services says that the D-FW area will see close to 8 million square feet of net office leasing this year. Only Houston and New York are expected to see higher office space demand in 2014.
Only about 3.5 million in net office leasing was recorded in the D-FW area in 2013.
“Markets in Texas, with their exceptional forecast employment growth, will dominate the office demand index,” researchers with the commercial real estate firm say. “Expanding service industries such as Associa, Kohl’s and State Farm have boosted the Dallas-Fort Worth regional performance.”
Marcus & Millichap predicts that overall office vacancy rates in North Texas will fall to 17 percent this year, even though about 4 million square feet of new office space will hit the market.
D CEO ~ March 2014: A Big Shake-up in Dallas Commercial Real Estate
Changemakers at three DFW firms are transforming the business—and gaining market share.
Running a commercial real estate firm in Dallas-Fort Worth is not for the faint of heart. Firms here are at the top of their game, and the competition is fierce. But in a market as big and active as North Texas, there are bountiful opportunities, too. “So much of it comes down to hustle,” says Moody Younger of Younger Partners. “If you have good people and work hard and are honest with clients, you’ll get your share.”
Younger and Kathy Permenter, co-founders of Younger Partners, are part of a new leadership class in Dallas real estate, a group that also includes David Pinsel at Colliers International and Steve Everbach at Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. All have been in their current positions for about two years. Younger and Permenter run their own shop; Pinsel and Everbach were both brought in to turn around the DFW offices of their respective companies. All have proven they have the mettle it takes to compete. Here are some of their strategies.
Dallas Business Journal – Billingsley says full sails ahead for Cypress Waters development
By Candace Carlisle, Staff Writer
It’s been more than a decade since Lucy Billingsley initially spotted the large parcel of land near Interstate 635, once owned by Dallas-based TXU Energy, but she still remembers seeing the property and thinking it would make an excellent plot to develop.
The longtime Dallas developer kept in touch with the energy company, hoping to land the 1,000-acre tract, and piece-by-piece, she did.
“It’s so rare to find 1,000 acres of land that’s infill property and near water,” said Billingsley, a partner at Dallas-based Billingsley Co. “In Dallas, you don’t find it.”
Now, Billingsley has jump-started the $3.5 billion master-planned, mixed-use development at the northeast corner of Belt Line Road and Interstate 635 calledCypress Waters, which recently landed the headquarters for Irving-based Cheddar’s Casual Cafe.
“It’s a long-term development that is launching with a lot of momentum,” Billingsley said. “It’s really been thrilling and the speed of development is really exciting.”
Real estate sources say they expectCypress Waters to land some big corporate tenants in the market. The developer has three office buildings underway to attract some of those tenants, as well as a corporate campus park.
Plans for the massive project include a corporate campus of 4.5 million square feet of office space, 10,000 apartments and townhomes, 400,000 square feet of retail space and three one-acre parks.
The project’s proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, as well as the rest of North Texas, is one of the reasons why corporate America is taking notice of Cypress Waters, saidMarijke Lantz, a senior vice president at Billingsley Co.
“A company can pull employees together throughout the Metroplex,” Lantz said.
Cheddar’s ability to expand its North Texas headquarters at Cypress Waters drove the restaurant chain’s decision to set up shop in the master-planned community, said Rick Payne, a Cheddar’s senior vice president.
Cheddar’s is Cypress Waters’ first corporate tenant. The single-story, 31,450-square-foot build-to-suit project at 8951 Cypress Waters Blvd. in Irving is expandable to accommodate future growth.
As the restaurant expands, Cheddar’s plans to hire more corporate employees to support the operations in the chain’s 150 restaurants throughout the United States.
Along with Billingsley’s development plans, the city of Coppell is readying to start lowering a 700-acre lake on the site to 362 acres. The downsized lake will be used in the master-planned community, which will include a five-mile nature trail around the lake, a park setting reminiscent of White Rock Lake in Dallas, as well as lakeside dining options.
Billingsley said the firm’s in the midst of plans to develop alongside the water’s edge.
“We have the opportunity to create a space that’s quite special,” she said.
Dallas Business Journal – What makes the $3.5B Cypress Waters project so alluring? (Video)
It’s been than a decade since Lucy Billingsley first spotted the large parcel of land near Interstate 635, once owned by Dallas-based TXU Energy, but she still remembers seeing the property and thinking it would make an excellent plot to develop.
The longtime Dallas developer kept in touch with the power company, hoping to land the 1,000-acre tract, and piece-by-piece, she did.
“It’s so rare to find 1,000 acres of land that’s infill property and near water,” said Billingsley, a partner at Dallas-based Billingsley Co. “In Dallas, you don’t find it.”
Now, Billingsley has jump started the $3.5 billion master-planned, mixed-use development at the northeast corner of Belt Line Road and Interstate 635 called Cypress Waters, which recently landed the headquarters for Irving-based Cheddars Casual Cafe.
And that’s not all. Real estate sources say the project is contending for a number of large corporate tenants in the North Texas market.
Dallas Business Journal – Dallas ranks as fourth-fastest-growing metro area in U.S.
Dallas is the fourth-fastest growing city in the United States, according to Forbes listof America’s 20 Fastest-Growing Cities2014.
That should come as no surprise to those of us who live in the area and see the steady stream of new residents and businesses and growth in many of the long-standing businesses that call DFW home.
Dallas’ 2013 population growth rate was 1.91 percent, Forbes said. The median pay rate in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA was $66,700 and the unemployment rate was 5.83 percent, Forbes said.
Austin led the list with a population growth of 2.5 percent, followed by Raleigh, N.C., and Phoenix, Ariz. Houston ranked No. 10 on the list, with a population growth rate of 1.82 percent and San Antonio fell in at No. 20.
Moody Younger: Hog Hunting and Commercial Real Estate ~ DRealEstate Daily, February 17, 2014
One recent Saturday I went on what has become an annual hog hunt with NAI Robert Lynn broker Sam Hocker. Sam introduced me to this sport a few years ago, and I have been hooked on it ever since.
Hog hunting with Sam on the Red River is not for the faint of heart. We hunt the hogs on mules, with dogs. Your only weapon is a Bowie knife, and you only have one knife, so you are not throwing it. This is brutal “hand-to-hog” combat.
The hogs fight back and sometimes win, by injuring the dogs, or you, and getting away. You have to keep your wits about you to avoid serious injury. The goal is to “bring home some bacon”, or a nice boar’s head as a trophy.
Fortunately, we did both on that Saturday.
How does this relate to commercial real estate brokerage?
Dallas Business Journal – Billingsley to develop Cheddars’ new corporate headquarters in Irving
By Candace Carlisle, Staff Writer
Dallas-based development firm Billingsley Co. plans to build the new Irving corporate headquarters for Cheddar’s Casual Cafe, which marks the beginning of a number of construction projects at Cypress Waters.
Cypress Waters is Billingsley’s 1,000-acre master-planned development underway in Dallas and Irving, which has been developing the corporate campus portion of the project.
The developer will start construction on the single-story, 31,450-square-foot build-to-suit project in May at 8951 Cypress WatersBlvd. near Ranch Trail and Interstate 635 in Irving. Cheddar’s will have the ability to expand the building for future growth.
“As Cheddar’s continues to expand nationwide and our support center increases to support 150 restaurants in 28 states, it was clear we needed a headquarters that could accommodate our growing team,” Rick Payne, a Cheddar’s senior vice president, said in a written statement.
“Our new space at Cypress Waters will offer an open, collaborative design flow, a test kitchen for research and development and a training wing,” he said.
Jim Montgomery and William T. Mason of Swearingen Realty Group LLC represented Cheddar’s Restaurants. Moody Younger of Younger Partners represented the developer in the deal.
The new Cheddar’s headquarters will be Cypress Waters‘ first corporate office tenant.
DallasNews: Billingsley Co lands major tenant for its Cypress Waters project
Restaurant chain Cheddar’s Casual Cafe is moving its headquarters to developer Billingsley Co’s new Cypress Waters office park.
The company will relocate to a new 31,450 square foot office project that will start in late May at on Ranch Trail and Interstate 635.
Behind the Scenes: Preston Plaza Sale – Bisnow February 5, 2014
All the stars aligned for both the buyer, Caddo Holdings, and the seller, Granite Properties, to get what they wanted out of the sale of the 261k SF Preston Plaza. Full article.
Dallas Morning News: Dallas has second highest U.S. office leasing in 2013
The Dallas-area was one of the top office leasing markets in the country in 2013, fueled by Texas’ booming economy.
Dallas was second only to New York in terms of net office leasing in 2013, according to a new report from commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley.
New York was the largest leasing market with 7.1 million square feet, followed by Dallas with 4.2 million square feet and Houston with 3.9 million.
Bisnow Scoop: Younger Partners’ Dustin Volz and Zane Marcell
A new year, a new look: The vacant, 64k SF 1400 Corporate Dr in Irving has been snatched up by Triad Real Estate Consulting, which plans to upgrading the lobby and common areas, among other renovations, we learned exclusively from the seller’s rep. (This is your chance to put a bowling alley in the basement… just sayin’.)
Younger Partners’ Dustin Volz and Zane Marcell (whom we snapped over lunch) repped the seller, an out-of-state investment group. Sales price was not disclosed. Dustin says he’s continuing to see a major price recovery, especially in the Class-B and C assets over the last nine to 12 months in DFW. Things have particularly picked up since March. (Everyone got through St. Patty’s Day alive and decided to buckle down.) A few reasons: the shortage of product, a very aggressive leasing market, and out-of-state buyers back in full force, helping bump up prices.