Miramar Development, headed by John Bunten, will build the Arlington Distribution Center in two phases, the first of which will be a two-building, 250,000-sf spec project. Miramar plans to break ground in February, GlobeSt.com has been told. The second phase's size has not been determined, says Randy Wood of Miramar Development.

The office-warehouse project is Miramar's first venture outside its successful warehouse developments in the northeast quadrant of Dallas, says Gary Lindsey, senior vice president of Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Industrial Group. Lindsey, along with Robert O. Fulford II, Industrial Group vice president, had represented the buyer and the seller in the transaction. The deal marks the closeout of industrial holdings in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area for Lusardi Construction Co. of San Diego, CA, Lindsey told GlobeSt.com. Rancho Coachella Properties, a Lusardi subsidiary, is the seller of the tract on the north side of Interstate 20.

Lindsey says Miramar had been looking for a developable site in the Arlington area for about six months. "He (Bunten) had decided to try a different submarket," Lindsey says. "It really is the last large site available for this type of development."

In the past year, several investor-builders have secured land in the south Arlington submarket, according to Lindsey. Wood says the four-building spec project will take the acreage to full build-out. Merriman & Associates of Dallas is the architect for the project while Pat Norman & Associates of Austin has been hired as general contractor.