Merit Energy Headquarters Move Among Biggest Dallas Leases

Merit Energy has traded its Galleria-area offices for a headquarters in north Dallas’s Two Lincoln Centre in one of the city’s biggest office leases of the year.

The oil and gas operator inked a deal for a little over 104,000 square feet across three floors — the 10th through 12th — of the 19-story building at 5420 Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway, the Dallas Morning News reported. The landlord is Nuveen Real Estate.

Merit, headed by CEO Terry Gottberg, will exit Galleria North Tower II, about a mile away at 13727 Noel Road. The ownership of that building couldn’t immediately be determined.

The lease agreement involved careful negotiations, as Cushman & Wakefield worked to relocate three existing tenants to make room for the Dallas-based energy firm. Matt Schendle, Zach Bean and Mary Frances Burnette represented Nuveen, while Jeff Ellerman and John Ellerman represented Merit Energy in securing the lease.

The size of the lease would’ve ranked second among last year’s biggest office leases.

Merit’s move is a nod to the appeal of Two Lincoln Centre’s recent multimillion-dollar renovations, completed in late 2022. The updates transformed the 1.6 million-square-foot office complex with outdoor tenant spaces and premium amenities such as a food hall, a wine market, Ascension Coffee and concierge service. The complex also benefits from its connection to a 500-room Hilton hotel, which received its own updates, including the addition of a junior ballroom.

The current office vacancy rate in Dallas is about 26 percent, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metro has the third-highest vacancy rate in the nation after New York and Chicago, but new or renovated office buildings with lots of amenities are the most desirable.

Amazon signed one of Dallas’ biggest office leases this year, renewing for 240,000 square feet at Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s Two Galleria Tower, at 13455 Noel Road, this past summer.

— Andrew Terrell