CBRE Group has relocated its Dallas headquarters and executives into three floors designed for the world's largest brokerage's Workplace 360 format, designed to foster teamwork and seat sharing, as plans remain on hold for a proposed tower nearby that would house its corporate home.
About 200 CBRE employees, including its global executive team, headquarters staff and corporate employees, moved into 67,325 square feet at 2121 Pearl St. in Uptown Dallas last month and the company's earnings call last week was the first to be held in the new space, according to a CBRE spokesperson. The building is next door to 2100 McKinney Ave. where CBRE has had its headquarters on three-and-a-half floors since it relocated from Los Angeles in 2020.
CBRE unveiled plans in March 2023 to shift its corporate office to space at 2121 Pearl St., a site that once housed its now-defunct flexible workspace concept called Hana, after its proposed new headquarters and mixed-use tower were put on hold because of economic conditions. The proposed 27-story tower at 2401 McKinney is currently home to Truluck's, an upscale seafood restaurant. All three of CBRE's current, past and future headquarters are within a half mile of each other in Uptown Dallas.
CBRE Chair and CEO Bob Sulentic said CBRE's plans haven't changed to house the firm's global headquarters and Dallas-area operations at 2401 McKinney once office market conditions improve, adding the location is one of the best office development sites in the United States.
"We have no plans to move on from it, but we're not going to move forward with it now," Sulentic recently told the Dallas Morning News. CBRE's development arm Trammell Crow Co. could one day develop the site, but the real estate services firm plans to operate at its new executive offices along Pearl Street for years to come, Sulentic said.
CBRE is eligible to receive $3.4 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund in exchange for creating 460 jobs and investing more than $29 million at its Dallas headquarters by 2034, according to an agreement from November 2021. CBRE previously told CoStar News the incentives are not tied to a specific address.
CBRE spent at least $15 million renovating the former Hana space on floors 2-4 at 2121 Pearl St. into its new headquarters, according to a state work permit. CBRE declined to comment on the building permit.
More Enclosed Offices
CBRE has been converting its offices around the globe to its Workplace 360 format since 2013 and its new Dallas headquarters is now among the more than 100 offices making the change.
But the Workplace 360 space in Dallas is a little different with more enclosed offices — 40% of dedicated seats in the Dallas headquarters are in an enclosed office, compared to CBRE's norm of 30%, the spokesperson said. However, offices aren't for exclusive use and whenever an executive is working somewhere else that person's office can be reserved by employees, the firm said.
The new office is designed to cater to CBRE's workforce, who are encouraged to work where they are productive — even if that is not in the office, Sulentic told the Dallas Morning News. Sulentic said he is steering clear of having an in-office mandate.
CBRE plans to maintain space at its former headquarters at 2100 McKinney Ave. that is also going to be redesigned into the Workplace 360 format, the spokesperson said. CBRE's Dallas advisory business and local Trammell Crow Co. operations remain at the 2100 McKinney Ave. office tower that prominently touts the CBRE signage, according to the spokesperson.
No construction timeline was disclosed for transforming the space at 2100 McKinney Ave. A building permit was filed with the state in June showing CBRE plans to begin a $700,000 project this month at 2100 McKinney Ave. for "CBRE Dallas swing space" on floors nine and 12 with "minor renovations to account for furniture densification affecting a portion of the existing office floors."
Trammell Crow Co. developed 2121 Pearl St. in 2018 in a joint venture partnership with MetLife Investment Management. CBRE's new headquarters on floors 2-4 fronts Klyde Warren Park.
CBRE's three floors at 2121 Pearl St. were previously home to the first location of the brokerage's coworking concept Hana that opened in 2019. CBRE folded Hana into the Industrious brand in 2021 after CBRE invested in the New York-based coworking company.
CBRE signed a long-term extension of the lease with the building's owners earlier this year for its headquarters, according to CoStar data. The space, designed by Gensler, includes a cafe with grab-and-go meals from Eatzi's. A private dining room connected to the café is tech-free, meaning no cell phones or laptops are allowed.
The paperless office features fabric ceiling modules to absorb sound and a 220-inch LED screen in the lobby, the largest in any CBRE office, to display sporting events, company announcements and promotional videos, the firm said. Front desk concierge handles ordering meals and arranging transportation for executives.
The conference rooms have video-conferencing with interactive whiteboards allowing in-person and remote employees to write on the same display. The boardroom was designed for both in-person and remote participation. The office has living room-styled areas with lounge seating and home-like decor with full videoconferencing ability.
CBRE has threshold sensors in the office that analyze space anonymously to identify underused space, the firm said.