Future of Westmount Property Up for Grabs
By Jennie Bell, Managing Editor

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY NEWS
Published March 2, 2005

Dallas-based Westmount Realty Capital L.L.C. has tapped two different real estate partners to help plot the future of its latest Plano, Texas, acquisition: 1000 Coit Road. Local firm Capstar Commercial Real Estate Services will market lease space in the 420,000-square-foot office complex, while Binswanger Cos. will field offers from potential buyers.

Westmount bought the former Alcatel USA campus at the end of the last year for an undisclosed price, and while it already owns a mix of assets, including industrial, office and residential, this is its first hybrid property, according to president Cliff Booth.

"This is a specialized facility, and we think therefore it requires a more creative approach," he said.

1000 Coit Road, vacant since mid-2003, comprises 180,000 square feet of rentable office space, 161,623 square feet of data-center and light assembly areas, 51,387 square feet of lab space as well as a warehouse and full-service cafeteria.

In Dallas' uneven real estate market, where the office vacancy rate was 23 percent at year-end, filling such an extensive property with one user is unlikely. But Capstar, explained Booth, will still target large tenants. "We're shooting for elephants," he said. "And fortunately, there are elephants out there."

Possible tenants could come from the healthcare, software development, telecom, finance or data center industries. And some of the companies already expressing interest are from outside Dallas, a city that had 43 million square feet of space to fill at the end of 2004, according to CB Richard Ellis Inc.

The company has given itself two years to lease the space and three years to sell it. Binswanger is currently marketing the entire office complex to international investors. There are no plans to break up the 24-acre property.