Robert Sarver Buys CityLine Office Complex in Richardson

One of the largest U.S. property trades of the year just happened in a north Dallas suburb.

Former Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver has purchased the 2.2 million-square-foot CityLine office complex at Bush Turnpike and Plano Road in Richardson, the Dallas Morning News reported.

While terms of the sale were not disclosed, the four-building campus last traded for $800 million in 2016. Along with the four main buildings, Sarver also acquired 120,000 square feet of retail space and a 42,000-square-foot medical office building as part of the deal.

CityLine — a $1.6 billion development with offices, shops, apartments, townhomes and a hotel — went up for sale in May. Newmark Group marketed the property on behalf of the sellers, a venture of South Korean-based Mirae Asset Global Investments and Houston-based Transwestern Investment Group.

The high-rises at the site are fully leased by State Farm Insurance and house 10,000 of its employees. The complex garnered heavy interest from investors due its leases with quality tenants and location in a high-growth area north of Dallas.

“CityLine provided investors with capital preservation, coupled with significant upside opportunities,” Newmark’s Chris Murphy told the outlet.

Construction on the 186-acre campus began in 2013, and in addition to State Farm, aerospace company Raytheon Technologies has an office there. Dallas-based KDC is planning to develop three additional office towers at the site, totalling 1.4 million square feet.

Along with his sports and real estate ventures, Sarver founded the National Bank of Arizona, which was sold in 1994 to Zions Bancorporation, the outlet said. Last year, he sold the Suns and Phoenix Mercury basketball teams for an estimated $4 billion, following allegations of racism, misogyny and other forms of workplace misconduct.

Dallas-Fort Worth led the nation with $13.2 billion in commercial real estate investment through the first nine months of 2023, despite a 64 percent year-over-year decline in sales.

—Quinn Donoghue