Benderson executes $218 million land deal in Dallas

Benderson Development Co., in a relatively rare transaction for the University Park-based developer, has acquired an interest in the ground beneath a new corporate headquarters just outside Dallas for $218 million.

The property sits beneath Pioneer Natural Resources new 10-story headquarters in the Hidden Ridge business park, a 35-acre development within the Las Colinas master-planned community in Irving, Texas. The roughly $1 billion project is being developed jointly by Verizon and Dallas-based developer KDC.

Pioneer, an oil and gas exploration firm, moved into its 1.12 million-square-foot headquarters in the final quarter of 2019. Late last year, KDC and Verizon sold the headquarters to a group comprising Riyad Capital, GMF Capital and PRP LLC for a reported $584 million.

“We are always looking for unique properties to continually grow our national real estate portfolio,” says Shaun Benderson, executive vice president, in a statement, adding the company has been “geographically expansive for the last 50 years.”

Benderson Development, one of North America’s largest privately held commercial real estate firms, has a portfolio of more than 750 retail, industrial, office and hotel properties. In all, Benderson controls more than 40 million square feet in 39 states.

“This was an opportunity in a dynamic market with great long-term value,” Benderson adds.

Pioneer is committed to occupying the new 777 Hidden Ridge project, which also includes an adjacent seven-story parking garage and amenities such as an on-site daycare center, food hall and wellness facility, through at least 2040.

For Benderson Development, the ground lease deal marks a bit of a departure from its typical acquisition strategy of buying income-producing properties or sites for internal development.

One notable exception, however, was its early 2000s joint venture with Taubman Centers Inc. on the 880,000-square-foot Mall at University Town Center. There, as with Pioneer, Benderson Development owns the land beneath the regional mall, which is anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s and others.

The purchase also represents a diversification for Benderson Development, which has been focused largely on either buying or developing retail, industrial and hotel properties for the past decade.

Its roughly dozen pure office holdings are largely concentrated in Florida, New York, Massachusetts and North Carolina, according to its website.

To date, Benderson Development’s Texas holdings have been in the retail sector. In all, the company owns 18 stores — 17 of which are occupied by pharmacies CVS and Walgreens in Dallas-are suburbs such as Frisco, Garland, Keller, Little Elm and Plano, its website notes.