P.M. BRIEFING : Dallas’ Southland Center Sold

The Southland Center, once Dallas’ premier office address, has been sold to a Swedish investor in the largest deal in the city’s central business district since the real estate market collapsed in the mid-1980s.

Lars-Erik Magnusson, chief executive of Larmag Investments Group of Amsterdam, said he paid about $60 million for the three-building downtown complex and will spend another $130 million to renovate it.

Magnusson made the purchase in partnership with KTI Associates, another investment firm.

“I think Dallas has had its worst years behind it,” Magnusson said by telephone from his home in the Netherlands.

The largest building in the complex, , the 42-story Southland Tower, was the tallest in Dallas when it was completed in 1959 by Southland Financial Corp. Its companion 31-story Skyway Tower was finished in 1981. The office buildings have about 1 million square feet of leasable space, but are only 30% occupied.

The 508-room, 29-story Sheraton Dallas Hotel completes the complex.

The collapse of the local real estate market in the 1980s left many skyscrapers almost vacant and sent rental rates plummeting.