It’s now the lobby of BB&T Plaza, a nine-story, 96,543-square-foot office building in Preston Center, but it could house Dallas’ next up-and-coming restaurant.
The ownership group of BB&T Plaza, located at 8214 Westchester Drive, has drawn up a plan to plot a restaurant in 3,500 to 6,500 square feet of space in the building’s existing lobby.
“It’s a huge amenity to an office building,” said Jason Puig, senior vice president at Dallas-based SRS Real Estate Partners . “It’s all about demand, and there are restaurant groups throughout the country trying to penetrate the market and landlords are creating space.”
Puig, Frank Bullock and Michael Miller with the firm are representing the ownership of BB&T Plaza in marketing its concept. BOKA Powell is the architect on the project. The redevelopment could cost up to $2 million, depending on the finish out.
Two factors lend appeal to adding street-level services to an office building: some tenants base office rental decisions on building amenities and restaurants can pay a higher rental rate than office clients.
For restaurateurs, it is the built-in professional demographic of a well-located office building that makes them salivate.
“Dallas, especially the Preston Center submarket, has strong demographics for restaurant space, where there’s not a lot of vacancy,” Puig said.
The Uptown market, for example, has attracted numerous high-end restaurants to office buildings, such as Stephan Pyles’ proposed second location in 17Seventeen McKinney and Arcodoro & Pomodoro at the Crescent.
The Preston Center market could benefit from additional restaurants, said Bob Young, managing director of Dallas-based The Weitzman Group . But, like any other landlord, an office landlord will have to address some of the inevitable challenges that arise with restaurants, such as parking, venting and the removal of waste, he said.
BB&T Plaza has more than 100 parking spaces earmarked for its plans.
“It is an attractive proposition when you can make it work,” Young said.
Exceeding expectations
It’s only been a few months, but the Gaedeke Group’s conversion of office space into three retail spaces at One McKinney Plaza at Hall Street and McKinney Avenue has been deemed a success by those in the industry – and the landlord.
Private Social and Del Frisco’s Grill, which recently opened at the Uptown’s office building, have taken two of the three retail spaces and both restaurants have exceeded expectations, said Belinda Dabliz, vice president of leasing for Dallas-based Gaedeke Group LLC.
“They have really taken off well,” Dabliz said, adding that retail space is leased at a roughly 20 percent higher rate than office space.
When the Gaedeke Group initially began marketing One McKinney Plaza’s retail space, the response was tremendous and the firm had to work hard to be selective, she said.
“It was more than we were expecting; we were quite surprised,” Dabliz said.
The Gaedeke Group is still marketing a 2,800-square-foot retail space, but the tenant would have to complement One McKinney Plaza’s existing tenant base, she said.
One McKinney Plaza’s successful venture has the Gaedeke Group open to redeveloping other office buildings, she said.
The firm owns 2 million square feet of space in Dallas-Fort Worth.
“We’d be excited to entertain that possibility,” Dabliz said. “Tenants love it, and the retail can really complement the community.”