Younger Partners Explains Strategy That Led To Full Occupancy At 8 DFW Office Properties

The rising tide in Dallas-Fort Worth’s record trophy office market has lifted the status of the region's older buildings and enabled one firm to achieve full occupancy at eight properties over the last year. 

Dallas-based Younger Partners rode that wave of office momentum to fully lease up nearly 463K SF in buildings built between the 1980s and 2000s and owned by seven different companies.

"These are great-quality assets that have good space and good representation and ownership to make deals happen," Younger Partners Managing Principal Sean Dalton told Bisnow. "It takes a lot of persistence and staying on top of tenants and brokers that are out there, because there are a lot of options in that Class-B space."

The firm prioritized working with building ownership, direct marketing to area companies and brokers, and tenant retention to achieve the feat. Younger Partners also embraced smaller leases to find the right tenants to fill the buildings it represents. 

After ending 2025 with its best absorption numbers since before the pandemic, DFW's office market started 2026 strong with steady tenant demand and more overall rent growth, according to Savills’ first-quarter market report shared with Bisnow. 

Increases to occupancy and rental rates in DFW's top-tier office space lift up the region’s older and Class-B assets, Dalton said. Plus, companies have figured out their office footprints and how to integrate people who work from home part of the week. 

"They've made the decision that they do need office space," Dalton said. "Going completely remote has its challenges, and so I do think the outlook for office in DFW is definitely on the upswing, in really all quality of space."

The common thread among Younger Partners’ lease-ups was owners who listened to the company’s recommendations and data-driven research, according to principal Byron McCoy.

Chief among those recommendations was what Dalton called "aggressive spec suite strategies." Getting suites in more leaseable condition helped eliminate "the imagination gap" for tenants and allowed them to visualize their company's office there, he said.

In addition to Dalton and McCoy, the Younger Partners agency office leasing team consists of Trae Anderson, Parker Morgan and Carson Lowe. The properties they brought to 100% leased were:

• Metroplex Tech Center at 3000 Kellway Drive in Carrollton
• One Horizon Ridge at 1010 E. Ralph Hall Parkway in Rockwall
• Park Cities Tower at 7001 Preston Road in Dallas
• Parkway North at 16800 N. Dallas Parkway in Dallas
• Twelve240 at 12240 Inwood Road in Dallas
• Valliance Plaza at 5900 S. Lake Forest Drive in McKinney
• Valwood XII at 13701 Hutton Drive in Farmers Branch
• Westwood III at 1805 E. Royal Lane in Dallas

As most of the eight buildings are smaller properties, the tenants that Younger Partners found came from across the board, including local financial services firms, attorneys and insurance companies. McCoy said he sought out companies located within 5 miles of the buildings, figuring some employers may be interested in relocating if they don't have to displace their workers very far.

Tenant retention also played a big part in leasing up the properties. 

"There's a lot of options out there, and being able to keep your tenants happy … has been a positive," Dalton said. 

With around 2,400 office buildings in DFW, McCoy said nearly 90% of all leases signed in the metro are for 8K SF or less. 

While smaller leases like those might not always be a priority at other firms, those deals are important to building owners.

"What's on the owner's mind is, 'How quick can you get my building leased?'" McCoy said. "So that's what we try to do."

However, it is also important to recognize when a property is in a constrained submarket. 

Instead of jumping at the first tenant to show interest, McCoy said the firm waited for the rental rate it was looking for at properties like Horizon Ridge in Rockwall.

"Usually, the last 10% of a building to fill up can be the hardest," Dalton said.