Amegy is banking on Uptown

Regional headquarters to anchor soon-to-be-started Saint Ann Court

The Dallas-Fort Worth regional headquarters of Amegy Bank of Texas is expanding and relocating to a building planned in Uptown.

Amegy will be the lead tenant in the Saint Ann Court office tower to be built on Harry Hines Boulevard near the Victory project.

Amegy – which is currently on Ross Avenue downtown – considered locations as far north as Plano before deciding it should be in Uptown.

"We looked at maybe 20 or 25 buildings," Matthew Hildreth, president and CEO of Amegy's D-FW region, said Tuesday. "It crystallized to us that we needed to stay near downtown.

"And this building is really special."

The 27-story Saint Ann Court will be started by developer Harwood International in about two weeks at Harry Hines and Moody Street.

With an opening scheduled in 2009, the glass and metal high-rise is already 44 percent leased.

"We have about 23 prospects we are speaking to about the remaining space in the building," said Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, Harwood International founder and CEO. "We needed a good, solid, quality bank – that was always our plan."

Amegy Bank will have 68,000 square feet of office space on the 16th, 17th and 18th floors. The bank will also have a retail location on the first floor and signs on the top of the tower.

Amegy Bank has had its North Texas operations center at 1807 Ross Ave. since 2004. Mr. Hildreth said the company could decide to keep a data center there after it moves to Saint Ann Court.

Since 2004 when Amegy Bank opened its Dallas operations center, the bank's assets have increased dramatically.

"At that time we had a couple of hundred million in assets in Dallas," Mr. Hildreth said. "Dallas will be a billion-dollar bank by the end of July.

"We are busting at the seams," he said.

Mr. Hildreth said Amegy Bank has about 125 workers in its Dallas operations but is poised to expand.

"With the growth we have experienced, there is the likelihood we are going to need more space," he said.

Saint Ann Court will have 320,000 square feet, including a restaurant, bar and meeting space constructed in a historic school building on the property. The new tower will be linked to the 80-year-old building with a garden area and walkways.

source:www.dallasnews.com