Preston Center Plaza lands marquee tenants

Oct 26, 2012

Dallas Business Journal - October 26, 2012 - by Candace Carlisle

The Plaza at Preston Center has yet to open its doors, but the five-story, $40 million building's name is already changing as it lands two long-term office tenants.

Dallas-based Cambridge Holdings Inc. and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management have signed long-term leases within the office building, which will now be known as The Cambridge Building.

Along with naming rights to the building, Cambridge will get upper-floor signage on three sides of the building for leasing 18,756 square feet.

Morgan Stanley will receive top-of-building signage with its lease for 14,317 square feet of office space.

"We want to promote healthier buildings, and with this we are taking the opportunity to live what we preach," said Jean-Claude Saada, chairman and CEO of Cambridge, a national developer, owner and manager of health care facilities. "We want to make the new space equally oriented for collaboration, movement and healthy living. We are reinventing the way we do business."

When the building is completed in April 2013, Cambridge plans to move from its current location on the 59th and 60th floor at Comerica Bank Tower in downtown Dallas. Cambridge will occupy the entire top floor and half of the third floor.

"We are going to be in a neat corridor of activity at Preston Road and Northwest Highway, where there is a tremendous amount of movement," Saada said. "On the 59th and 60th floor in downtown, we have felt removed from the world."

In the process of moving, Cambridge will nearly halve its real estate footprint from about 35,000 square feet to 18,756 square feet.

Cambridge's current home, the former Union Pacific offices, are inefficient, with vast hallways and extensive wood paneling, he said.

Cambridge's new offices will be on the top floor of the Plaza at Preston Center.

The third floor will house the company gym in about 5,000 square feet. Cambridge plans to use the lauckgroup as its interior designer.

Jon Altschuler and Rebecca Rambie of Altschuler and Co. represented The Plaza at Preston Center. Cambridge represented itself.

Enhancing the customer experience

The building is only four blocks from Morgan Stanley's current location at The Berkshire at Preston Center, but the financial advisory firm's move to The Cambridge Building will give it more visibility and prominence in the community, said Christopher Barton, executive director at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

"The building will enhance the customer experience," Barton said. "The building is more situated in the area, and Morgan Stanley will get top-of-building signage. It was a good opportunity for us."

The financial advisory firm also will be able to hold lunches and seminars at the University Park library, which will be on the second floor of the building, and give employees easy access to retail amenities, he said.

The building's ground floor retail tenants include True Food Kitchen and Matthew Trent. It has a 450-car underground parking garage.

Morgan Stanley plans to move into the fourth floor at the end of summer 2013.

A high-luxury building

Between the tenants, The Cambridge Building is nearly entirely leased, said Mike Geisler, a founding partner of Dallas-based Venture Commercial, who is overseeing the building's retail leasing.

"Preston Center has a 25-year history of having some of the highest rents and occupancy in the city," Geisler said. "Part of the value is based on the amenities to the retail and the proximity to where people live in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow."

The building's market lease rate has been upped from $46 per square foot to $48 per square foot, plus electricity, for about 6,000 square feet of office space remaining on the third floor of the building.

The submarket's average lease rate is $31.02 per square foot for Class A office space, according to the latest research from Jones Lang LaSalle.

"We're trying to create a product that's not just a standard office building, but a high-luxury building that's the premium of the office and retail space."