Amegy Bank may be Uptown-bound

A downtown Dallas banking operation is eyeing a move to a new Uptown building.

Real estate brokers say that Amegy Bank is shopping for as much as 70,000 square feet of office space in the Saint Ann Court tower.

The 27-story office project is being built at Harry Hines Boulevard and Moody Street just north of downtown.

If Amegy Bank makes the move, the new offices would be a high-profile replacement for its Dallas operations center, now at 1807 Ross Ave. The bank has been in the building since 2004.

Amegy Bank wouldn't confirm Friday that it is talking with Saint Ann Court developer Harwood International.

Amegy spokeswoman Leigh Akin said that while the bank is expanding its retail operations in North Texas, "no decisions have been made about relocating the Dallas corporate headquarters at this point."

Harwood International officials would neither confirm nor deny real estate industry chatter that they are in talks with Amegy.

The 320,000-square-foot Saint Ann Court building was already about 40 percent leased thanks to a new lease with law firm McGuire, Craddock & Strother PC. The tower is set to open in early 2009.

In the same area, real estate brokers say that Ernst & Young is closer to announcing a lease in the Victory Park complex.

The accounting firm has been talking with developer Hillwood about moving into a new building in the mixed-use project.

Hillwood recently started construction on its 20-story One Victory Park office tower. And a Hillwood executive said the developer hopes to announce plans soon for a second Victory Park tower.

Texas Capital Bank -- which is already in Uptown -- will move its operations in late 2008 to the 2000 McKinney office tower, which is under construction at Woodall Rodgers Freeway and Olive Street..