KERA And Kaizen Team Up For Uptown Development

Kaizen Development Partners and one of Dallas’ top broadcasters are looking to join the development craze in Uptown.

Kaizen, led by CEO Derrick Evers, and KERA have joined forces to build a mixed-use high-rise project near the entrance to the Dallas North Tollway and the growing Harwood District, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The project involves the sale of KERA’s 2.4-acre campus between North Harwood Street and Harry Hines Boulevard, where Kaizen aims to build a 400,000-square-foot office tower, a residential high-rise and roughly 20,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. Costs weren’t reported.

KERA, North Texas’ PBS and NPR affiliate, plans to build its headquarters on a portion of the planned development, with construction slated to commence late next year.

“North Texans have relied on KERA for essential news and programming for over 60 years. But our current facilities simply aren’t equipped to meet the needs of our growing community for the next 60 years and beyond,” KERA CEO Nico Leone told the outlet.

KERA has tapped Dallas architect Corgan to design its new headquarters, while Gardiner & Theobald serves as project manager. During construction, KERA will temporarily relocate its operations from the existing buildings on the site, some of which have been in use since its founding in 1960.

The sale of KERA’s campus was facilitated by Dallas law firm Vinson & Elkins. JLL’s Blake Shipley, T.D. Briggs and Ayanna Jarvis have been hired to market the planned office. It will be Kaizen’s third major project in central Dallas, the outlet said.

Development activity continues to explode in Uptown. The area has a number of $100 million-plus office projects in the pipeline, attracting various Fortune 500 companies. Bank of America, for instance, recently announced its plans to occupy 238,000 square feet in KDC’s 30-story Parkside Uptown at the northwest corner of Harwood Street and Woodall Rodgers Freeway.

—Quinn Donoghue