One of downtown Dallas’ biggest and emptiest office towers is hitting the auction block, offering investors a chance to take a swing at a redevelopment play.
The chronically distressed Harwood Center, at 1999 Bryan Street, is up for sale through online auction platform Marketplace, with bids starting at $10 million and due Oct. 15, the Dallas Morning News reported. The building, which spans roughly 735,000 square feet, is just 47 percent leased, according to the listing. The starting bid amounts to $13.60 per square foot.
Seller CW Capital took over the 36-story asset from Fortis Property Group after a winning foreclosure-auction bid of $80 million in 2021. Fortis bought the property in 2006 and spent $10 million on renovations in 2011, according to Morningstar Credit.
The building’s appraisal took a 20 percent haircut back in February, when it was valued at $51.2 million — just 41 percent of its 2014 valuation of $124 million, according to Morningstar. The Dallas Central Appraisal District values the property at $45.4 million.
Major tenants include engineering giant Jacobs, which has its global headquarters there, along with Omnicom Management and the General Services Administration.
Built in the early 1980s, the tower is zoned for mixed-use, and redevelopment could include residential or hotel conversions. The property sits near the St. Paul DART station and the M-Line trolley, with more than 1,300 parking spaces.
Transwestern’s Mike Hardage, Stephen Simon and Steve Pumper are marketing the property.
A 0.16-acre slice beneath the Harwood Center is also for sale, listed by Colliers. The listing offers ownership of a ground lease set to expire in 2077. The land takes in an annual rent payment of $65,232 according to the listing.
Dallas’ Central Business District has one of the highest vacancy rates in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said Sriram Villupuram, a finance and real estate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
“Buildings from the 1980s boom are outdated for today’s employees, making it hard to lease without major renovation or redevelopment,” he told the outlet.
Uptown attracts major tenants and new development — accounting for roughly three-quarters of the region’s 2.7 million-square-foot pipeline — while downtown’s aging stock has struggled.
For prospective buyers, that reality could cut both ways: Harwood Center’s half-empty floors may look like a liability now, but for the right investor, they could be the blank canvas for downtown’s next big conversion.
— Eric Weilbacher
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