Mercedes-Benz Financial to Lease More Than 75,000 Square Feet in Hillwood's New Speculative Office Building at Alliance

UGL Equis Corporation Represents Auto Finance Unit In Transaction 


FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 3  /PRNewswire/ -- Hillwood has leased 75,344 square feet of its new 114,710 square-foot Heritage Commons II office building at Alliance to Mercedes-Benz Financial, the financial services partner for Mercedes-Benz dealerships throughout the United States. Heritage Commons II, which will be completed by the end of this month, is located along the west side of Interstate 35W between Alliance Blvd. and Westport Parkway.

Mercedes-Benz Financial will operate the center in support of its lease and retail contract portfolio.

Mercedes-Benz Financial will employ approximately 350 workers at its new location. The company plans to occupy the new building by January, 2008. The move is a result of a transfer of assets of Chrysler and Chrysler Financial to Cerberus Capital Management, which is expected to close in the third quarter. Approximately 750 Chrysler Financial employees will remain at the present location in Westlake.

"Alliance was a natural selection for Mercedes-Benz Financial," said Janet Marzett, Vice-President, of Customer Service and Remarketing. "We have had an excellent relationship with Hillwood at the building we lease in Westlake, which supported the combined group, Chrysler Financial and Mercedes-Benz Financial. The location, in proximity to our current employee base, together with the quality environment of Alliance, made our process very easy and keeps our Mercedes-Benz Financial team together."

Mercedes-Benz Financial was represented by Wendy Dobreff and Stuart Smith of UGL Equis. Hillwood was represented in-house by Steve Aldrich, vice president of Hillwood Properties, the developer of AllianceTexas.

"Office development has become an even bigger factor in the growth of AllianceTexas primarily due to the quality of the development and the recent residential growth that has given tremendous depth to the labor force in the area," said Aldrich. "With increased amenities and services adding a new dimension to the quality of life at AllianceTexas, Hillwood anticipates the office segment at the development to grow exponentially."

"Mercedes-Benz Financial took a serious look at new generation office space immediately north of the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, but ultimately decided that both current and future employee demographics favor a location in the Alliance Corridor," says Stuart Smith, senior vice president of UGL Equis who represented Mercedes-Benz Financial in the transaction.  "Hillwood's timing of construction completion of Heritage Commons II also fit perfectly with Mercedes-Benz Financial's relocation schedule"

Including Mercedes-Benz Financial, several global industry leaders have established major office facilities in more than 1 million square feet at AllianceTexas over the past few years. Fidelity Investments recently began construction on a 600,000 office building that will house more than 1,500 employees at its campus in the Circle T Ranch section of AllianceTexas. The company already has a 615,000 square-foot office building on the campus.

Last year DynCorp International moved into a 120,000 square-foot build-to- suit at Alliance. The company also expanded into 10,316 square feet of office space at Heritage Commons I earlier this year.

Textron continues to grow in the development and now occupies more than 52,000 square feet of office space in the Alliance Commerce Center 14 office building. Bell Helicopter utilizes close to 150,000 square feet of office space in several Alliance facilities, including 77,000 square feet in the recently completed Army Programs Center and 46,000 square feet in its Customer Service Center.

Other major office users at AllianceTexas include Galderma, TD AMERITRADE, Lockheed Martin, AIG, AT&T, Chrysler Financial, Ryder and IESI, one of the country's top waste management companies, which has its corporate headquarters in the development.

Located 15 miles northwest of DFW Airport, the 17,000-acre AllianceTexas development consists of the Alliance Global Logistics Hub, the corporate campuses and golf courses of Circle T Ranch and the high-tech mixed-use community of Heritage. AllianceTexas now houses 6,200 single-family homes and more than 140 companies that occupy 26 million square feet and employ 25,000 workers. More than 65 companies at AllianceTexas are ranked on the Fortune 500, Global 500 or Forbes List of Top Private Firms.

Mercedes-Benz Financial provides financing for Mercedes-Benz dealers' inventories and their retail customers. Currently, over 400,000 drivers in the United States enjoy the benefits of leasing or financing their Mercedes-Benz vehicles through Mercedes-Benz Financial, which is part of DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Americas LLC' s group of companies that operate in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and parts of South America with approximately 5,600 employees. DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Americas is part of the DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Group, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, which operates in over 40 countries and has an employee base of close to 11,000 and a global portfolio of approximately $150 billion. DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Group is one of the leading financial services enterprises worldwide. For more information visit http://www.mercedesbenzfinancial.com/.

UGL Equis Corporation, through its affiliated companies, is a global corporate real estate firm that focuses exclusively on the business space user. With more than 3,300 affiliated employees in nearly 100 locations around the world, Chicago-based UGL Equis, a subsidiary of United Group Limited, (ASX:UGL), provides comprehensive real estate solutions through portfolio strategy and management, transaction advisory, corporate finance, project services, workplace integration, data management, facility management and audit & recovery services for national and global companies with office, industrial and retail opportunities throughout the United States, Mexico, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. The firm serves leading organizations in a range of market sectors, including Bayer Corp., Charter Communications, DaimlerChrysler, U.S. General Services Administration, GlaxoSmithKline, Qwest Communications and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. For additional information, please visit http://www.ugl-equis.com/.

Hillwood, (http://www.hillwood.com/) a Perot company, is ranked as one of the top commercial real estate developers in the country and the top residential developer in Dallas-Fort Worth. In addition to AllianceTexas, Hillwood is best known for its development of AllianceCalifornia in San Bernardino and the $420-million American Airlines Center and Victory district near downtown Dallas. 

DATASOURCE: Mercedes-Benz Financial



CONTACT: David Pelletier of Hillwood, [phone],

; Jack Ferry of Mercedes-Benz Financial,

[phone], ; Jessica Dietz, UGL Equis, [phone],

 



Web site: http://www.mercedesbenzfinancial.com/

http://www.hillwood.com/

http://www.ugl-equis.com/ 

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