Dallas Blog

This morning's New York Times says that The Building Formerly Known as San Jacinto Tower at 2100 Ross Avenue is among several of Joseph Moinian's holdings placed on a credit agency's "watch list," along with buildings in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Chicago. It may be no big deal, cautions the article -- just a sign of the inevitable "red flags" that whip in the winds of financial thunderstorms, as Moinian describes the current credit crunch. It's happening to every developer. Everywhere.

Then again, Ernst & Young's move from 2100 Ross Avenue to One Victory Park leaves the building, which Moinian bought for $73 million, with a huge hole -- "a vacancy of 40 percent," according to Greg Biggs, an executive director at Cushman & Wakefield of Texas. Biggs tells The Times, "In Dallas, you really have to be careful about your expectations for your returns," good advice for everyone considering living here. But as recently as September, when it announced Stephan Pyles's new eatery, Monian Group was touting 2100 Ross Avenue's "92 percent occupancy."