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Farm Credit Bank of Texas
Austin, Texas
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The Challenge
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| Farm Credit Bank of Texas sold its Northeast Austin office building in the fall of 2002 and hired CB Richard Ellis to find its next home. Tenant representatives Charles Dixon, Volney Campbell and Erin Morales surveyed the market for options ranging from a purchase to new construction or a lease. By the summer of 2003, the clear leader was 102,000 square feet in Plaza on the Lake II, a lavish suite of offices formerly occupied by high tech law firm Brobeck Phleger & Harrison. |
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The Solution
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Plaza on the Lake II offered the executive ambiance Farm Credit was looking for, along with a high-profile location next to the landmark Loop 360 bridge over Lake Austin. The space exemplified the opulence and extravagant spending characteristic of Austin's high tech economy in the late 1990s: Video conferencing with plasma televisions, custom-made tables and coach-leather chairs graced the conference rooms; Brochsteins Millwork of Houston had outfitted the offices and secretarial areas with custom, pearwood desks and workstations and installed floor-to-ceiling wood paneling in the elevator lobbies and adjacent areas. In all, Brobeck spent roughly $7 million finishing the space.
The Result
After negotiating terms of the lease with the landlord, Farm Credit's brokers applied to a San Francisco bankruptcy court for approval to buy Brobeck's fixtures, furniture and equipment. When the deal closed in November 2003, Farm Credit paid less than 10 cents on the dollar for Brobeck's furniture and signed for the space at a lease rate 28 percent lower than Brobeck had been paying. |
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