HALL Group acquired 2525 McKinnon St in Uptown Dallas — 112,000 sf across 8 stories, built in 2003 — from Elliott Investment Management and Morning Calm Management. Eastdil Secured Savills advised HALL. The asset will be renamed HALL Uptown, with lobby, common-area and building-systems upgrades planned alongside a spec-suite program. Existing tenants include City Bank, Rasansky | McKenzie Law and Crowe Dunlevy.
The building last traded in 2017 for $46.8M, implying $417.86 per square foot and an average floorplate of 14,000 sf (derived). The current purchase price was not disclosed — every figure here is anchored to the 2017 basis.
HALL Group is a developer. It has spent four decades building in North Texas, and its Uptown identity is built on ground-up work. That is what makes this an interesting purchase rather than a routine one.
Uptown is the tightest office submarket in Dallas and one of the tightest in the country. It is also, right now, effectively closed to new supply — not because demand is absent but because the arithmetic of a new Uptown tower at 2026 construction costs requires rents that only a handful of tenants will pay.
A 2003 building is not a trophy. It is 23 years old, it needs a lobby and it needs systems. But it is standing, it is leased to law firms and a bank, and it can be bought at a basis that a new tower cannot be built at.
The tenant roster tells you what the business plan is. Professional-services tenants who want a good address, a private floor and a short walk to Uptown restaurants do not need floor-to-ceiling glass on a 30-story column. They need a building that works. That is a renovation budget, not a construction budget — and in a year when steel mill products are up 22.5% and aluminum mill shapes are up 40.5%, the difference between those two budgets is the entire investment thesis.
Implications. When developers become buyers in their own submarket, the spread between acquisition basis and replacement cost has opened far enough to override institutional habit. Watch the capital plan on the 2003 systems — it will be a public read on what Class A-minus Uptown office costs to modernize versus replace.
Key Takeaways
- The clearest signal in any office market is a developer who stops developing and starts buying.
- In Uptown Dallas a 2003 building can be bought for less than a 2026 building can be built.
- The 2026 purchase price was not disclosed; all figures are anchored to the 2017 basis.
The Real Deal Texas — Aug 31 2026 · Commercial Property Executive · Connect CRE · HALL Group project page (hallgroup.com/our-business/hall-uptown)
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