A year after buying the Uptown Dallas property, the owners of The Crescent are spending millions of dollars to upgrade the landmark buildings.
Opened in 1986 just north of downtown, the five-building Crescent complex anchors Uptown and set the bar for projects that followed.
Last year, the mixed-use development was purchased by a fund organized by Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate in a deal valued at almost $700 million. It was North Texas’ most costly real estate buy in 2021.
Crescent Real Estate has now upped its investment in the property with a $12 million makeover of the three office towers that line Pearl Street between McKinney Avenue and Cedar Springs Road. The landlord wanted to have the building upgrades ready as employees at The Crescent returned to the office after working from home during the pandemic.
“Everybody is so concerned about their workers now, so that’s important,” said John Zogg, managing director of Crescent Real Estate. “The office lobbies needed to be refreshed — it was time.
“Every surface other than the marble we’ve redone,” he said.
The ground floor public areas in the three buildings got new lighting, ceilings and signs.
“The lighting was super important — it was dark in here,” Zogg said. “Every piece of furniture is brand new, but all of it is not here yet — some of it is still on a boat somewhere.”
Design firm DLR Group handled design of the interior redos of the offices along with Andre and Jo Staffelbach of J/a Kreativ. Scott + Reid is the general contractor.
Neoclassical artworks in the building lobbies — a holdover from the 1980s — were replaced with more modern pieces by prominent artists including Brooklyn sculptor Brie Ruais, New York painter Landon Metz, Fort Worth painter Matt Kleberg and Saif Azzuz, a Libyan-Yurok artist.
“Even though we are an older building, we keep it fresh,” Zogg said.
Most of the previous makeovers have made the property more pedestrian friendly, with outdoor gathering areas, additional eateries and more connections to the surrounding neighborhood.
The buildings’ postmodern design by famed architect Philip Johnson has remained intact.
The current office building renovations are the latest in a series of remodels at The Crescent.
“All and all, in the last seven years, probably $90 million has been spent on this property,” Zogg said.
In 2016, previous owner JP Morgan Asset Management completed an almost $33 million redo of the office towers and the retail building.
And in 2018, Crescent Real Estate wrapped up more than $35 million in improvements to the 226-room Crescent Court Hotel.
The exclusive Crescent Club on top of the project got a $3 million facelift in 2019.
With 1.3 million square feet of office space, the Crescent buildings house as many workers as a downtown skyscraper.
“There are 132 customers in this building,” Zogg said. “We want this building to continue to be the best in the market, and to do that we have to continue to invest in things like this renovation.”
One of the biggest additions is the construction of a 12,000-square-foot fitness center that will be located in the adjoining retail atrium. Entos Design is doing the fitness center, which will open this summer and offer trainers, fitness classes and a grab-and-go café for healthy foods and beverages.
The Crescent commands some of the highest office rents in Texas and is more than 96% leased. Some of the largest office tenants in the buildings include Westwood Management, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, UBS Financial, RBC Wealth Management, JP Morgan Chase, Stephens Inc., Nexpoint Advisors, Raymond James & Associates, PNC Bank and Merrill Lynch.
“The buildings are 80% to 85% leased to financial firms, including family offices and wealth managers,” Zogg said.
Crescent Real Estate officials say that the property has seen a big influx of people returning to the office. “Especially in the middle of the week, we see a big spike,” said Crescent general manager Julie Young. “We had people coming back much earlier than other buildings.”
With multiple new office projects on the way in the area north of downtown Dallas, The Crescent’s owners see continued upgrades as a defensive move.
“Two or three years from now, there will be a lot of new product,” Zogg said. “We want to get this building ahead of it so that it competes not just today but tomorrow.”
