J.P. Morgan Eyes Three Landmark Dallas Buildings in Major Deal

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

The Fountain Place, Dallas, Courtesy of Andreas Praefcke

J.P Morgan Asset Management could become the new owner of three landmark Dallas buildings if its current negotiations with Crescent Real Estate Holding L.L.C. go through. The investor is eyeing the 1.3 million-square-foot Crescent complex in Uptown, the 50-story Trammell Crow Center and the 60-story Fountain Place, according to The Dallas Morning News. Although J.P. Morgan is currently the majority owner of the properties alongside Crescent, the deal would buy out the real estate company’s stake in the buildings.

The Crescent Office Towers complex, the centerpiece of the Uptown/Turtle Creek Class A office market, comprises a 19-story center structure and two adjoining 18-story structures. Located on the edge of Dallas’ Central Business District, the property totals 1.1 million rentable square feet and features a spa, the Crescent Club, state-of-the-art security measures, on-site retail shops, restaurants and other services.

The dramatically sculpted Fountain Place, a 1.2 million-square-foot office tower encased in green reflective glass, rises 60 stories from a tree-lined water garden at Ross Avenue and Field Street in downtown Dallas. The tower, designed by internationally acclaimed I.M. Pei & Partners, includes a three-level underground parking garage, a Wells Fargo Bank, an Avanti Restaurant, a French bakery café, a Happy House Deli and a car wash and a dry cleaner.

Trammell Crow Center totals 1.2 million square feet on 50 floors, with a polished and flamed granite exterior and garden plaza, along with the Crow Collection of Asian Art. On-site amenities include Bank of America lobby banking, a Fresh Choice Café and Deli, Starbucks, The Marketplace and Sundry Shop, an ATM, a lobby concierge, an on-site auto detailing service, a florist, a dry cleaner and a shoeshine service.

If the deal goes through and J.P. Morgan manages to buy out Crescent’s stake in the three properties, the transaction would be one of the biggest U.S. real estate deals of the year.