A seven-story office tower at the corner of Maple Avenue and Cedar Springs Road in Uptown Dallas has new owners, and they're bringing millions of dollars in renovation plans along with the deal. The building, known as 2401 Cedar Springs, serves as the regional headquarters for commercial real estate giant JLL and also houses Nuri, an upscale Korean-Texas fusion steakhouse on the ground floor.
Montclif, a newly launched office investment firm, and its partner FCP, both based in Maryland, announced the acquisition Wednesday, according to The Dallas Morning News. The deal closed the prior Monday, though it had not yet been recorded in deed records at the time of reporting, per the same account. Crescent Real Estate sold the roughly 200,000-square-foot property, which is about 60% occupied, the newspaper reported. Montclif declined to provide financial details about the transaction, the outlet said.
Signs that Crescent was looking to offload the building surfaced back in March, when D Magazine reported the firm appeared to be letting go of 2401 Cedar Springs, noting JLL as the building's anchor tenant at the time. JLL remains the marquee tenant today, according to the Morning News report.
New Owners Plan Wellness Floor, Fresh Lobby
Montclif and FCP plan to invest between $5 million and $10 million in renovations, the Morning News reported. The planned upgrades include a new lobby, a conference center and a renovated lower-level wellness floor, according to the same account. The building's own promotional materials describe additional concourse-floor amenities in the works, including a high-end fitness center, a multi-sport simulator and a social lounge, per 2401 Cedar Springs's website, which also notes that Crescent had earlier partnered with engineering firm Telios to redesign the building's outside-air and exhaust-air system.
Erik Weinberg, a founding partner of Montclif, said the location sits at what he called the epicenter of where growth has migrated in Uptown, the newspaper reported. He added that rents at the building will be significantly below the cost of constructing a new tower, according to the same report. The deal marks Montclif and FCP's first acquisition in Dallas, the Morning News noted.
Montclif launched in April as a new office real estate investment firm co-founded by Weinberg and Jackson Prentice, according to CoStar. The Chevy Chase, Maryland-based company is targeting office investments ranging from $30 million to $150 million across markets including Dallas and Nashville, CoStar reported. FCP is expected to support Montclif's platform operationally and could serve as an equity investor on some of its deals, per the same report.
Steakhouse With South Korea, New Orleans Roots Stays Put
Nuri occupies the ground floor of the building and describes itself on its own website as a fine-dining destination shaped by a journey from South Korea through New Orleans to Dallas. The Morning News described the restaurant as an upscale Korean-Texas fusion steakhouse.
Greg Napper and Blake Tyson arranged the acquisition financing, while Jonathan Napper, Bailey Wood and Rett Daugbjerg represented Crescent Real Estate in the transaction, according to the Morning News. Blake Shipley, James Esquivel and Ashley Curry will handle leasing at the building on behalf of the new owners, the paper reported.
A Crowded Uptown Deal Sheet
The sale adds to a busy stretch of Uptown-area office activity. Dallas-based Cawley Partners led an acquisition of The Centrum involving RREAF Holdings in late August, according to The Real Deal. The available account does not provide the property's size, sale price or planned upgrades.
Twenty days earlier, Hall Group announced it had acquired 2525 McKinnon Street, a 112,000-square-foot boutique office building in Uptown Dallas, according to Hall Group. The company plans to rename the property Hall Uptown and invest in upgrades to its lobby, common areas, spec suites and building systems, per its own announcement. The Morning News report also referenced Cawley's Centrum purchase and Hall Group's McKinnon Street deal alongside other recent Dallas office sales, including the Meadows Building trading to August Real Estate.
Office Market Still Working Through a Supply Glut
The Dallas-Fort Worth office market had roughly 171 office properties on the market as of mid-July, representing 10.9 million square feet — a 10-year high, according to CoStar data cited by The Dallas Morning News in a separate report. Elsewhere in the market, other Dallas office transactions were also reported.
Even so, top-tier buildings are outperforming the broader market. CoStar data referenced by CoStar's own reporting put the vacancy rate for high-end office properties at about 8.5%, compared with roughly 14% for the rest of the U.S. market, with asking rents for premier space commanding a premium of more than 60% over lower-tier options. In the Uptown/Turtle Creek submarket specifically, a Partners Real Estate market report was cited for office-market conditions, but the available source material does not provide the rent, leasing, net-absorption or vacancy figures.
