GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Early Renewal, Expansion Fills 60,000 SF

DALLAS-With two years to go on its lease, CPA firm Grant Thornton LLP has inked a replacement pact with a 12-year term and 23,600-sf expansion in Bank One Center. The firm will take over two full floors, totaling 60,000 sf of class A space, by June 30.

The seven-year tenant will shift from the fifth floor to the 14th and 15th stories in the 1.5-million-sf high rise at 1717 Main St. in the CBD. The deal, in the market two years, fills floors emptied nearly four years ago in the 60-story building, Don Dowell, Trizec Properties Inc.’s leasing director for Main Street Partners Funding LP, tells GlobeSt.com.

“We are pleased to keep them,” Dowell says. “They’re one of the country’s leading CPA firms.” Bank One Center is owned in a 50-50 joint venture by Chicago-based Trizec and Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. of Fort Worth.

“Grant Thornton’s commitment to Dallas and to Bank One Center is highly valued by us,” Thom Ridnour, Trizec senior vice president, and Michael Lewis, senior vice president for Crescent, jointly said in a press release about the early renewal. The now-89% leased Bank One Center has become one of the CBD’s favored nesting grounds for legal and financial firms, with more than 60% of its top-tier space filled by law firms. The space is quoted at $20 per sf to $23 per sf plus electric.

Lou Grabowsky, Grant Thornton’s managing partner in Dallas, says remaining in the Downtown was a priority. “Our growth over the past few years has required additional space and we are pleased that the Bank One Center could accommodate our needs.” Mike Wyatt and Daryl Mullin with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. represented the Chicago-headquartered accounting firm.