Morgan Stanley Considering $1.3B Office Tower In Uptown Dallas
A major investment banking player is eyeing a new office tower in Uptown Dallas as the region’s reputation as a financial hub continues to grow.
Morgan Stanley could invest $684M to consolidate its operations into a new high-rise at 2401 McKinney Ave. The financial services firm is seeking an $18.5M incentive package from the city to help get the project underway, according to The Dallas Morning News.
If the project moves forward, the tower’s developer would spend $650M on construction, in addition to Morgan Stanley’s planned investment. The financial services titan would lease around 700K SF in the building for 16 years beginning in 2031.
That space could house 3,800 employees by the end of 2035.
While the new tower is being completed, Morgan Stanley would lease around 255K SF in the Fountain Place tower at 1445 Ross Ave. in downtown. The company plans to spend almost $97M on that space for 1,500 employees through 2031.
However, Dallas isn’t the only location in the mix, as Morgan Stanley is also considering Alpharetta, Georgia, for the project, Bloomberg reported.
The Dallas City Council is expected to consider the incentive package, which could include additional tax abatements, during its Wednesday meeting.
Morgan Stanley didn’t immediately respond to Bisnow’s request for comment. Trammell Crow, which owns the property being considered for the new office tower, had no comment on the situation.
Morgan Stanley has a little more than 160K SF of office space in Dallas-Fort Worth, with the largest chunk at the 20-story PwC Tower at Park District, 2121 N. Pearl St.
If the deal goes through, work on the new Uptown tower is expected to begin this fall. Dallas officials estimated the project could have close to a $65M impact on the city.
In 2020, the site at the corner of McKinney Avenue and Fairmount Street was announced as the location of a 27-story office and retail tower that would serve as the headquarters for Dallas-based commercial property firm CBRE Group.
The project secured zoning and construction incentives, but work never got off the ground.
Morgan Stanley’s prospective building would be less than a mile from Goldman Sachs’ new $709M office campus at 2323 N. Field St. The 800K SF campus is slated to be finished in 2028.
More office construction would be welcome news for Dallas’ central business district, which has made several headlines this year for big names moving out of the city.
In January, AT&T announced it would move its global headquarters to Plano in 2028. The telecommunications titan’s new $1.35B global headquarters will have more than double the space of its 1M SF Whitacre Tower building in Downtown Dallas.
At the beginning of June, the Dallas Mavericks announced plans to leave their longtime home at the American Airlines Center and purchase 104 acres of the former Valley View Center mall site in North Dallas to construct a mixed-use district anchored by a new arena.
Just one day after the Mavs' news, the Dallas Stars also announced plans to leave the American Airlines Center. The team signed a letter of intent to build a more than $1B mixed-use district with a new arena at The Shops at Willow Bend mall site in Plano.
