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30 December 2005, 11:18 AM
Area real estate had big year
08:34 AM CST on Friday, December 30, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
MICHAEL MULVEY/DMN
Cranes dot the Dallas skyline as the Victory project starts to take shape near downtown Dallas.
Buying, building and leasing – 2005 has been a big year for the local real estate market.
Low interest rates and rabid investor appetites fueled a boom the likes of which Big D hasn't seen since the 1980s.
Billions of dollars in commercial properties changed hands, and construction cranes have sprouted on everything from Uptown condos to suburban office space.
At the same time, the local housing market shows no sign of a slowdown. In fact, prices are inching up.
Sure, there are a few bugs on the windshield. Office vacancy rates remain stubbornly high, and worries about a housing bubble won't go away.
But the North Texas property market will start out the new year in the best shape in over a decade.
Now, if we just don't mess it up.
Biggest Boom: Victory
After limping along at a snail's pace for several years, Uptown's Victory project switched into hyperdrive in 2005.
The W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences was joined by six more buildings – four residential projects and two retail and office buildings now under construction.
Tell Us
What are your predictions for D-FW real estate in 2006? Comment | View Results It all adds up to more than a half-billion dollars in development under way in the 75-acre project just north of downtown.
And there's more to come.
Groundbreakings set for 2006 include the first of two office towers, a Mandarin Oriental Hotel and condominiums, plus designer Philippe Starck and Yoo Ltd.'s the House condo tower.
Biggest Sales: Lincoln Centre, Las Colinas
North Texas' property market had a boom year.
Investors from around the world snapped up buildings and development sites, ignoring naysaying from Wall Street analysts.
The biggest building sale this year was the Lincoln Centre complex in North Dallas, which was bought for more than $250 million by New York-based Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund.
And in the same week that TIAA-CREF bought Lincoln Centre, it sold the Millennium Center development in Las Colinas. Houston developer Hines also picked up about 600 undeveloped acres in the Irving project for an estimated $100 million.
Biggest Rebound: Telecom Corridor
I had started calling it the Telegone Corridor, but now a surge in leasing by nontelecom companies is helping fill the void in the Richardson office market.
The Telecom Corridor led North Texas in office leasing in 2005.
And developers recently announced plans for a new mixed-use complex that will bring needed shopping space and apartments to the area on DART's light rail line.
Biggest New Market: The Trinity
After almost four years of construction, the $261 million High Five interchange project in North Dallas opened this fall.
Real estate investors began celebrating early. The construction tangle had slowed sales and leasing, and as soon as the end was in sight, properties around the intersection of LBJ Freeway and North Central Expressway started trading at a fast clip.
Office landlords in the area shouldn't get too comfortable, though. Starting in 2007, work begins to widen LBJ Freeway. That project will make the High Five look like a pothole patch.
Biggest Rebound: Telecom Corridor
Dallas residents have been talking about fixing up the Trinity River bottoms since the days of John Neely Bryan's first cabin.
And so far, it's mostly been talk.
Now that construction is starting on the first of a series of landmark bridges, real estate developers are buying into the idea of a showplace river park.
Apartment builders including United Dominion Realty and JPI are staking out development sites on the north bank of the Trinity.
Other real estate investors are combing the area along Industrial Boulevard for building sites.
Biggest Move: 7-Eleven to downtown
Convenience store giant 7-Eleven Inc. is moving only about a mile, from Cityplace to the Arts District.
But the message it sends about downtown Dallas is loud and clear.
With one of North Texas' biggest corporations coming downtown, other firms and developers are taking a new look at Dallas' city center.
Attractive land prices and growing amenities are helping downtown compete with suburban business districts. Gas prices over $2 a gallon also make close-in locations more appealing.
Biggest Buying Opportunity: The Masonic Temple
If you've always wanted to live like a grand pooh-bah, we have just the building for you.The 64-year-old Masonic Temple on Harwood Street is for sale, and $5 million will get you the 43,000-square-foot temple, plus three other historic buildings on the downtown block.
The temple comes with a lot of history.
Built to accommodate 6,000 Masons and 750 members of the Eastern Star, the art deco landmark has a 500-seat auditorium, lodge rooms, a banquet hall, library, lecture rooms and offices.
Biggest Bust: Home foreclosures
Near-record-low interest rates and an improving economy weren't enough to put the brakes on North Texas home foreclosures.
More than 32,000 homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were posted for forced sale this year by lenders, an increase of 4 percent from 2004.
That's a whopping 55 percent jump in foreclosures from 2002.
Real estate analysts blame the home loan defaults on record-high credit-card debt and continued corporate cutbacks.
Another factor is that many marginal homebuyers have used "creative" mortgage plans to get into houses they can't afford.
Expect more of the same in 2006.
January's home foreclosures are already up 4 percent.
Biggest Bungle: Tax change proposals
Federal bean counters ran into a buzz saw this year when they suggested doing away with tax deductions for the housing market.
President Bush's tax reform advisory commission thinks it would be a great idea for homeowners to lose their tax breaks.
The housing industry and most consumer groups were quick to shout no to this boneheaded plan. The last thing America needs is a change that would make homeownership more expensive.
Biggest Wait: The Merc
I once called the Mercantile National Bank building the rotten tooth in downtown's smile. Now some long-overdue dental work is about to begin on the Main Street landmark.
Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland cemented a $270 million deal with the city of Dallas to convert the vacant 36-story skyscraper and an adjoining tower into commercial and residential space.
To get the job done, the city had to pony up $70 million in incentives. A last-minute tussle over who would pay to preserve the art from the buildings added to the suspense. But – finally – the biggest blight on Dallas' skyline is going to get a redo.
08:34 AM CST on Friday, December 30, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
MICHAEL MULVEY/DMN
Cranes dot the Dallas skyline as the Victory project starts to take shape near downtown Dallas.
Buying, building and leasing – 2005 has been a big year for the local real estate market.
Low interest rates and rabid investor appetites fueled a boom the likes of which Big D hasn't seen since the 1980s.
Billions of dollars in commercial properties changed hands, and construction cranes have sprouted on everything from Uptown condos to suburban office space.
At the same time, the local housing market shows no sign of a slowdown. In fact, prices are inching up.
Sure, there are a few bugs on the windshield. Office vacancy rates remain stubbornly high, and worries about a housing bubble won't go away.
But the North Texas property market will start out the new year in the best shape in over a decade.
Now, if we just don't mess it up.
Biggest Boom: Victory
After limping along at a snail's pace for several years, Uptown's Victory project switched into hyperdrive in 2005.
The W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences was joined by six more buildings – four residential projects and two retail and office buildings now under construction.
Tell Us
What are your predictions for D-FW real estate in 2006? Comment | View Results It all adds up to more than a half-billion dollars in development under way in the 75-acre project just north of downtown.
And there's more to come.
Groundbreakings set for 2006 include the first of two office towers, a Mandarin Oriental Hotel and condominiums, plus designer Philippe Starck and Yoo Ltd.'s the House condo tower.
Biggest Sales: Lincoln Centre, Las Colinas
North Texas' property market had a boom year.
Investors from around the world snapped up buildings and development sites, ignoring naysaying from Wall Street analysts.
The biggest building sale this year was the Lincoln Centre complex in North Dallas, which was bought for more than $250 million by New York-based Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund.
And in the same week that TIAA-CREF bought Lincoln Centre, it sold the Millennium Center development in Las Colinas. Houston developer Hines also picked up about 600 undeveloped acres in the Irving project for an estimated $100 million.
Biggest Rebound: Telecom Corridor
I had started calling it the Telegone Corridor, but now a surge in leasing by nontelecom companies is helping fill the void in the Richardson office market.
The Telecom Corridor led North Texas in office leasing in 2005.
And developers recently announced plans for a new mixed-use complex that will bring needed shopping space and apartments to the area on DART's light rail line.
Biggest New Market: The Trinity
After almost four years of construction, the $261 million High Five interchange project in North Dallas opened this fall.
Real estate investors began celebrating early. The construction tangle had slowed sales and leasing, and as soon as the end was in sight, properties around the intersection of LBJ Freeway and North Central Expressway started trading at a fast clip.
Office landlords in the area shouldn't get too comfortable, though. Starting in 2007, work begins to widen LBJ Freeway. That project will make the High Five look like a pothole patch.
Biggest Rebound: Telecom Corridor
Dallas residents have been talking about fixing up the Trinity River bottoms since the days of John Neely Bryan's first cabin.
And so far, it's mostly been talk.
Now that construction is starting on the first of a series of landmark bridges, real estate developers are buying into the idea of a showplace river park.
Apartment builders including United Dominion Realty and JPI are staking out development sites on the north bank of the Trinity.
Other real estate investors are combing the area along Industrial Boulevard for building sites.
Biggest Move: 7-Eleven to downtown
Convenience store giant 7-Eleven Inc. is moving only about a mile, from Cityplace to the Arts District.
But the message it sends about downtown Dallas is loud and clear.
With one of North Texas' biggest corporations coming downtown, other firms and developers are taking a new look at Dallas' city center.
Attractive land prices and growing amenities are helping downtown compete with suburban business districts. Gas prices over $2 a gallon also make close-in locations more appealing.
Biggest Buying Opportunity: The Masonic Temple
If you've always wanted to live like a grand pooh-bah, we have just the building for you.The 64-year-old Masonic Temple on Harwood Street is for sale, and $5 million will get you the 43,000-square-foot temple, plus three other historic buildings on the downtown block.
The temple comes with a lot of history.
Built to accommodate 6,000 Masons and 750 members of the Eastern Star, the art deco landmark has a 500-seat auditorium, lodge rooms, a banquet hall, library, lecture rooms and offices.
Biggest Bust: Home foreclosures
Near-record-low interest rates and an improving economy weren't enough to put the brakes on North Texas home foreclosures.
More than 32,000 homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were posted for forced sale this year by lenders, an increase of 4 percent from 2004.
That's a whopping 55 percent jump in foreclosures from 2002.
Real estate analysts blame the home loan defaults on record-high credit-card debt and continued corporate cutbacks.
Another factor is that many marginal homebuyers have used "creative" mortgage plans to get into houses they can't afford.
Expect more of the same in 2006.
January's home foreclosures are already up 4 percent.
Biggest Bungle: Tax change proposals
Federal bean counters ran into a buzz saw this year when they suggested doing away with tax deductions for the housing market.
President Bush's tax reform advisory commission thinks it would be a great idea for homeowners to lose their tax breaks.
The housing industry and most consumer groups were quick to shout no to this boneheaded plan. The last thing America needs is a change that would make homeownership more expensive.
Biggest Wait: The Merc
I once called the Mercantile National Bank building the rotten tooth in downtown's smile. Now some long-overdue dental work is about to begin on the Main Street landmark.
Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland cemented a $270 million deal with the city of Dallas to convert the vacant 36-story skyscraper and an adjoining tower into commercial and residential space.
To get the job done, the city had to pony up $70 million in incentives. A last-minute tussle over who would pay to preserve the art from the buildings added to the suspense. But – finally – the biggest blight on Dallas' skyline is going to get a redo.