Peloton Partners Lay Out 511,000-SF Office Plan

DALLAS-Real estate veterans Joel Pustmueller and T.D. Briggs, founders of the six-year-old Peloton Real Estate Partners, are re-entering the development arena. The launch is being seeded by three class A office projects, totaling roughly 511,000 sf in separate locations.

The Peloton partners came from the Trammell Crow Co. ranks so they are as well versed in development as they are in leasing. Details are available for just one of the three projects–a 111,000-sf, three-story building and structured parking on 6.7 acres in Southlake. Pustmueller says the land is being bought off market from Gateway Church at 2121 E. Southlake Blvd., which will abut the office building. The site is a stone’s throw from Texas 114 and across the street from Southlake Town Center.

Pustmueller tells GlobeSt.com that the plan is to break ground in June on Southlake Center, jump-starting an 11-month construction schedule that will put delivery at mid-2009. If the partners’ plans for this year work out, ground will break on 250,000-sf and 150,000-sf office projects too. The triple play could translate to a $100-million development program, which is being backed by equity from an unidentified US institutional group.

Pustmueller says he and Briggs have been quietly working on the development program nearly two years. “We’ve always seen it as a natural extension of what we’re doing. T.D. and I both did development at Trammell Crow,” he says. “It’s where we come from and what we know.” The founders have brought on well-known development figures, Robert Gray and Murl Richardson, for extra muscle.

Pustmueller says the site criteria, today and in the future, must “have a story, a compelling reason to succeed.” Southlake Center will sit in an office pocket that’s 92% leased to smaller tenants, most in upper-floor offices above the town center’s eclectic mix of retailers. The story is tied to city’s high-income demographics, tight office market and residential profile of decisionmakers who now travel to offices scattered throughout the metroplex.

The Beck Group of Dallas has designed a building with flexible floor plates for small or large users, according to Pustmueller. “We are tailoring our development projects to the needs of the submarket,” he explains, adding the class A space quotes will open at $24 per sf to $25 per sf.

Pustmueller says it’s too early to say if the class A projects, which could include mixed use, will be merchant builds or long-term holds. “Each hold will be determined by the partnership,” he says. “The strategy is project specific.”