Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann is packing up its downtown Dallas offices for a new home in Deep Ellum. The litigation firm will move from 2100 Ross Ave. into The Epic, taking more than 50,000 square feet across two floors in the mixed-use development.
The move, first reported by Dallas Business Journal, comes as 2100 Ross Ave. itself changes hands. The tower was sold in a foreclosure auction back to its lenders, according to the outlet's reporting. Lynn Pinker had previously occupied the 27th and 28th floors of the building, which was formerly known as San Jacinto Tower, per a profile from The Texas Lawbook that put the firm's size at 47 lawyers.
The Epic, where the firm is headed, opened in 2019 in the heart of Deep Ellum. The development is a Class A mixed-use project combining office space, multifamily housing, retail and a boutique hotel, according to developer KDC. The office tower itself offers 251,000 square feet of space, per a PR Newswire release announcing the building's first tenants back in 2019.
A Downtown Exodus Keeps Growing
Lynn Pinker's departure adds another name to a lengthening list of companies leaving downtown Dallas office towers. Fifth Third Bank and AT&T have both announced plans to leave downtown for new locations, the Dallas Business Journal reported earlier this year. Fifth Third's planned exit from Comerica Bank Tower alone is expected to dump more than 222,000 square feet of vacant office space onto a market already straining under one of the highest vacancy rates in the country.
That wave of departures is projected to push downtown Dallas office vacancy to 35%, according to the same Dallas Business Journal report. Against that backdrop, Deep Ellum's rise as an office destination stands out. The Epic has even emerged as a contender for Dallas City Hall's potential relocation, a move that could bring roughly half a million square feet of government office space to the neighborhood, the outlet has reported separately.
Deep Ellum's Office Appeal
The Epic has drawn tenants since its earliest days. Westdale signed a 39,124-square-foot lease in the office tower and planned to occupy one and a half floors, while flexible-workspace provider Spaces leased 47,026 square feet, according to the 2019 PR Newswire announcement. More recently, Uber's master lease at the companion Epic II tower still has about eight years remaining, per the Dallas Business Journal.
The Epic I sits at 2550 Pacific Ave. in the Deep Ellum neighborhood, within the 75226 zip code, according to property listing site CommercialSearch, which also lists the building as Class A. For Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, the move trades a downtown address undergoing a lender-driven ownership change for a newer, amenity-rich campus in one of Dallas's more active submarkets.
