DALLAS – (Realty News Report) – The American Athletic Conference, which includes the University of Houston, SMU and Tulane, has moved its headquarters from Rhode Island to the Las Colinas development in Irving, Texas.
Gemini Rosemont Commercial Real Estate, announced the conference leased 18,000-SF in the Summit at Las Colinas, a 19-story office building with 375,706 SF and unobstructed views of downtown Dallas.
The American conference is comprised of the following institutions: UCF, Cincinnati, ECU, Houston, Memphis, Navy (in football only), USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa. Wichita State participates in basketball and Olympic sports.
The American conference will relocate its 30 employees to its new headquarters at 545 E. John Carpenter Freeway in Irving this summer from Providence, R.I., where it has been based since 1979 when it was formerly known as the Big East Conference.
The American is one of the nation’s top collegiate athletic organizations and it is seeking recognition as a Power 6 conference, by virtue of its collection of national team and individual championships, football and men’s and women’s basketball postseason victories, and expansive media rights contracts.
“We have enjoyed our time in Providence, but with the current geographical composition and footprint of our league, Dallas is a better fit for us and our institutions,” said Mike Aresco, commissioner for The American conference. “With the College Football Playoff and the National Football Foundation, together with several collegiate conferences headquartered there, Dallas can make a legitimate claim to be the national epicenter of college sports.”
Designed by the CallisonRTKL architecture firm, the conferences offices will include a production studio, a recording studio and a command center for monitoring television broadcasts.
The 12,000-acre Las Colinas master planned community is home to a number of major corporate headquarters, including Exxon Mobil.
“Las Colinas is a preferred business address in the Dallas Metroplex, and it is the ideal location for an athletic conference of this stature,” said Helen Rivero, chief operating officer for Gemini Rosemont, a Los Angeles based real estate firm with a number of Texas office properties.
JLL’s Conor McCarthy and Jeremy McGown represented the American Athletic Conference in the transaction. James Esquivel and Ahnie Sheehy, also with JLL, represented Gemini Rosemont.
Gemini Rosemont has an existing portfolio totaling 8 million SF with a gross asset value of $1.6 billion. Through its sponsorship from Gemini Investments Holdings, Ltd., an investment company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the company has invested $600 million in Class A office buildings in “technology-centric and/or gateway U.S. markets totaling” over 1.3 million SF.
May 23, 2020 Realty News Report Copyright 2020