Steelcase, White Rhino land in Hillwood’s Victory Park office building

Hillwood Urban just scored a Steelcase showroom as a tenant in its Victory Park office highrise, which also gained White Rhino Coffee as a retail amenity.

The Michigan-based furniture maker, which describes itself as “a global design, research and thought leader in the world of work,” plans to open the 11,000-square-foot showroom on the third floor of Victory Commons One, at 2601 Victory Avenue in Dallas. White Rhino is planning a 2,300-square-foot shop on the ground floor, which is expected to be the local company’s largest store and its flagship, offering location-exclusive drinks, according to a news release.

The retail tenant additions come on the heels of a lease of the full 8th floor by an IT services and consulting firm that Hillwood declined to name.

A venture of Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood and San Antonio-based Affinius Capital, formerly USAA Real Estate, delivered the 352,000-square-foot, 15-story building in 2020.

Steelcase’s showroom, called the WorkLife Center, is one of nine across the country that will focus on promoting a healthy work environment, according to the release. The firm has a long history in Texas. Via the bygone Wilhide Equipment Company in Dallas, Steelcase furniture outfitted most of the courthouses and office buildings in Texas in the mid-20th Century.

JLL’s Scott Hage represented Steelcase in lease negotiations, while Hillwood Urban’s Bill Brokaw and Karch Schreiner represented the landlord. BOKA Powell designed the showroom, and Balfour Beatty was the contractor.

Office leasing in Dallas is a tough row to hoe, as the central business district was sitting at 36 percent vacancy in the first quarter, according to Savills. Overall office vacancy in Dallas-Fort Worth was 29.9 percent, down 23 percent from the previous quarter but relatively flat year-over-year.

But newer buildings fare better, and the Uptown submarket, which edges up to Victory Park, is a popular destination for corporate relocations.

Granite Property’s 23Springs, which is under development at 2323 Cedar Springs Road in Uptown, drew the biggest office lease of the first quarter, with law firm Sidley Austin signing on for 118,000 square feet. The second-biggest lease of the quarter was also in Uptown. Wing Stop took 112,000 square feet in a corporate relocation to One West Village, the former home of the Richards Group, 2801 North Central Expressway. It is owned by a venture of OliveMill Holdings, Hunt Realty and Angelo, Gordon & Company.