Catellus Pays Y-T-D Record $35-Mil Plus for Park Central

DALLAS-The deal of the year in Dallas to date has put the 707,900-sf two-building Park Central into the hands of San Francisco-based Catellus Development. The transaction marks the first deal for the Dallas investment sales office of two-month-old CSFB Realty Corp.

The 21-story Park Central III and four-story Park Central IV carried an asking price of $45 million. The complex is one in only a handful in the Southwest, says CSFB director Scot Farber, “to trade at a price greater than $35 million this year.” He represented seller HPG Dallas LP.

Farber tells GlobeSt.com that he closed the transaction under the CSFB banner, but it is a deal that he started while at Jones Lang LaSalle’s Dallas office. He and six other executives from JLL’s investment sales division have split from the company on good terms and started the CSFB office, which will be handling investment sales on a nationwide basis. The departing team from Jones Lang LaSalle consists of Jack Minter, who is CSFB’s managing director; John Alvarado, now a director; Josh McArtor, associate; Matt Ballard, analyst; Sarah Holt, assistant vice president; and Jamie Smith, marketing coordinator.

The 12-acre Park Central holding, which is 95% occupied, is situated in the path of the High Five in Five highway construction project, which is due to kick off and continue through 2006. Park Central III totals about 484,000 sf and Park Central IV, 223,9900 sf. Many tenants in the High Five path along Central Expressway and LBJ Freeway have been seeking office space elsewhere or acquiescing to some pretty good deals from building owners in the construction corridor. In Park Central’s case, Farber says the leases “have a nice steady rollover for the next couple of years.” JCPenney occupies about 65% of the two-building complex.

Farber says the deal closed within 60 days of going under contract. Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc.’s Dallas executive vice president Jack Fraker and senior director Randy Baird represented Catellus in the buy.

Farber says the Park Central deal is significant in that it’s Dallas’ largest to date this year and the first for the CSFB office. But, he says, it’s not the largest in the CSFB Dallas pipeline. The Dallas office will also handle sales for CSFB operations in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Atlanta. “Our group has other significant transactions nationwide that we’re completing,” Farber says, noting he will talk when the deals close.