Aerospace manufacturer Bell Textron Inc. has signed a long-term, 109,187-square-foot lease for the entirety of 4151 Amon Carter Boulevard in Fort Worth. The Class A, four-story building formerly housed the American Airlines Federal Credit Union. Transwestern’s Duane Henley and Nathan Durham provide leasing services on behalf the building ownership, Capital Commercial Investments. Todd Burnette and Matt Montague with JLL represented Bell Textron in the transaction. Transwestern’s Becky Dennis leads property management for the site. Bell increased its office footprint to accommodate its growing operations throughout the DFW region. The opening of the Bell commercial business center will house approximately 600 employees. The firm established a footprint in North Texas in 1951 and in August unveiled a new, 140,000-square-foot manufacturing technology center, also in Fort Worth. Earlier this year, Transwestern executed the sale of the three-building, 1.39 million-square-foot office campus that previously served as the world headquarters for American Airlines to Austin-based Capital Commercial Investments. The lease by Bell is the first major transaction since the sale of the campus. The 40-acre site still includes 6.33 acres of undeveloped land and leasing opportunities for 4333 and 4255 Amon Carter Blvd. Situated 17 miles between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, 4151 Amon Carter benefits from access to the seven major freeways connecting all regions of the DFW metroplex, DFW International Airport and the Centreport submarket, where the property is located. One of 4151 Amon Carter’s most important attributes is its proximity to the Centreport Railway Station and the Trinity Railway Express commuter train. Capital Commercial Investments renovated the campus entrance lobbies, built out model suites and common areas and upgraded existing lighting to enhance the tenant experience. The buildings feature irregular dodecagon-shaped floorplates with four wings of office space affording an unrivaled 12 sides of glass windows. Additionally, the property has an underground pedestrian tunnel connecting all three buildings. “The Mid-Cities submarkets have maintained very low vacancy rates of 6.3 percent before American Airlines vacated the campus last year,” said Transwestern research manager Andrew Matheny. “A central location allows tenants to draw from a labor pool of over 1.1 million educated workers that live anywhere from the Dallas urban core to affluent Tarrant County suburbs like Grapevine and Westlake.” According to Transwestern’s Third-Quarter Office Market Report, employment in office-using industries is now flat year over year, after continued hiring in professional services and finance has netted out remaining declines in administrative services and information.

Quadrant Investment Properties and Stream Realty Partners announced the launch of its flex office strategy, which will provide fully furnished and internet-enabled office suites on a short-term basis. The program is being piloted at the boutique St. Paul Place, located in the Dallas Arts District. “Since the COVID lockdown last March, we have seen increasing demand for flexible leases outside of coworking space,” said Chad Cook, founder of Quadrant Investments. “These tenants are looking for move-in ready office space on a shorter-term basis while still desiring their own controlled office environment. We are not changing the traditional real estate leasing model, but rather enhancing it by providing another option for prospective tenants.” The flexible leasing strategy enables short-term leases of six to 12 months of fully furnished modern office that includes internet, private conference room and kitchenette and tenants have full access to building amenities including outdoor lounge, community space, coffee, additional conferencing options and on-site food services. Stream Realty, a partner in the building, will continue to lead the leasing strategy at St. Paul Place. “We are excited to get this program into the market as the boutique nature of St. Paul Place provides a unique opportunity to address the demand for shorter term lease options while still providing a class A experience,” said Rhett Miller, vice president of Stream’s Dallas office. The program was developed in part to cater to companies that are uncertain about their long-term office needs or behind in their office search due to the current environment. The suites available at St. Paul Place range in size from 2,500 to 14,000 square feet with many offering elevator lobby exposure. The marketing of the flex program is being managed through the St. Paul Place website where prospective tenants can view spaces, book tours and find transparent pricing to allow for easy decision-making. “This is the next step in our strategy of making flexibility a central operating principal for every building we own,” said Cook. “Over the last year we have re-tooled our technology operations to make it easier for us to onboard, service, and support our customers in a timely manner. That operational foundation gives us the freedom to focus on this business strategy without worrying about the operational complexities.”

JLL Capital Markets closed the sale of and arranged acquisition financing for an eight-property, shallow bay industrial portfolio totaling 606,889 square feet within infill markets in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. JLL worked on behalf of the seller, Fort Capital. Birtcher Anderson, in a joint venture with Belay Investment Group, purchased the portfolio. Additionally, JLL worked on behalf of the new owner to place the five-year, floating-rate acquisition loan. The 95-percent-leased, multi-tenant portfolio includes Manana Business Park at 2526 Manana Drive in Dallas; Garden Brook Industrial at 3109, 3113 and 3300 Garden Brook in Farmers Branch, Texas; 4101 Lindberg in Addison, Texas; Luke Business Park at 1100-1220 Luke Street in Irving, Texas; Hickory Business Park at 1665 Hickory Drive in Haltom City, Texas and 1115 and 1101 NE 23rd Street and Suffolk Industrial Park at 2901, 2905, 2921 and 2951 Suffolk Drive in Fort Worth. All these properties are in premier infill locations in established industrial submarkets near major transportation arteries. The JLL capital markets investment advisory team representing the seller was led by senior director Stephen Bailey, managing director Dustin Volz, senior director Zane Marcell and analysts Wesley Gilmer and Erin Lazarus. The JLL capital markets debt placement team representing the new owner included senior director Cullen Aderhold. The DFW industrial market continues in 3Q 2020 to set its record run of growth as one of the top industrial markets in the country. JLL reports that strong fundamentals and ongoing demand for space in the DFW market will continue to push rents higher along with new speculative construction well into 2021.