IRVING, Texas — Read this story and more North Texas business news from our partners at the Dallas Business Journal
The Big 12 Conference has put its longtime Irving headquarters up for sale as it prepares to move within the city.
The college athletics conference's two-story office building along Highway 114 at 400 E. John W. Carpenter Freeway hit the market March 5. Built in 1996, the Big 12 has owned the 1.9-acre property since 2006, Dallas County deed records show.
Cushman & Wakefield's Beth Lambert and Andrew White are marketing the 14,320-square-foot building for sale. The conference will leave behind its furniture and audio and technology equipment to the buyer.
Lambert said the property could be a good opportunity for smaller tenants that are in the financial position to own their own building. She said its architecture and ties to the Big 12 have helped to garner attention.
"As rents escalate, ownership becomes more achievable and attractive," Lambert said. "It's not going to be an investor that buys this property, likely. It's going to be an end user, someone who's going to make this their home, and we already have offers on the building that came very quickly."
The Big 12 plans to move this fall to 14,107 square feet in the Williams Square office tower at 5215 N. O'Connor Blvd., in Irving's Las Colinas community, according to a February announcement from Cushman & Wakefield. The conference will join other big-name Williams Square tenants such as Caterpillar, Accenture and Flowserve.
"The move to Williams Square was warranted given the growth of our conference and its staff," Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement.
The conference is amidst a major expansion, planning to add Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah in 2024 as Texas and Oklahoma move to the Southeastern Conference. The Big 12 also recently added Houston, Brigham Young University, Cincinnati and the University of Central Florida in 2023.
The new space, while just slightly smaller than the Big 12's current offices, will be aimed to have more workstations and collaboration spaces to house additional employees and visitors. This comes as many companies have shifted to newer space to better attract talent and clients.
"It creates more efficiency, it creates a more open, collaborative work environment," Lambert said. "But the primary thing is just that they're growing the conference, and so needed to bring more people in."
Travis Boothe and Cynthia Cowen of Cushman & Wakefield represented the Big 12 in lease negotiations for Williams Square, while Bill Brokaw and Karch Schreiner of Hillwood Urban represented the landlord, a partnership between Apollo Global, Vanderbilt Office Properties and Hillwood Urban.
