Bell Nunnally Expansion in Shows Arts District Resilience

While Dallas businesses generally appear to be migrating away from downtown, the Arts District appears to be retaining tenants keen on the location.

Dallas-based law firm Bell Nunnally & Martin recently expanded their headquarters in KPMG Plaza at Hall Arts by 10,247 square feet. The expansion balloons their presence at the plaza to over 51,000 square feet, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

Christopher Trowbridge, managing partner of the law firm, told the outlet that the firm loves being in the Arts District and that they have doubled down and will be there “forever.” The KPMG Plaza, which sits at 2323 Ross Avenue, is a stone’s throw from the Dallas Arts Tower, Moody Performance Hall and the Dallas Museum of Art. Bell Nunnally have been KPMG Plaza tenants since 2018.

Even as Downtown Dallas appears to be losing tenants to Uptown, the Arts District appears to be holding strong. Two months ago, Fortis Property group dumped $15 million in upgrades to the Dallas Arts Tower, redesigning their lobby and adding a 2,000 square-foot public art gallery featuring artists from the region. CoStar Group moved its Dallas office into the Ross Tower, taking over the 20,400 square-foot 14th floor and making $1.1 million in renovations to their space.

The Arts District’s successes have come at the same time as the rest of Downtown Dallas is seeing a tenant downtick. Office space increasingly became vacant during the pandemic, and the wound left never fully healed, according to the outlet. The rampant downsizing and moving has seen a substantial shift in the heart of Dallas, and beyond the Arts District, a trend that doesn’t show any signs of slowing.

AT&T’s planned move from the 37-story tower at 208 South Akard Street in Downtown Dallas to its proposed 54-acre campus in Plano will empty 3 million square feet of office space in the city. The telecommunications firm could move into Plano as early as 2028 according to prior reporting in The Real Deal, and its Downtown Dallas lease expires in 2031.

Meanwhile, the relatively new “Y’all Street” financial district in Uptown boasted $1 billion in developments in 2024, and the new Texas Stock Exchange is set to move into the Bank of America Tower at Parkside.

— Hunter Cooke