"Not unlike any quality corporate group, you have a responsibility to keep all activity in pre-development stage confidential," Steve Van Amburgh, CEO for Dallas-based Koll, stresses to GlobeSt.com. He acknowledges word leaked out earlier this year, but Koll as the developer and Sally Beauty as the client had yet to select the project site.

Van Amburgh says the final decision has just been made: the northeast corner of Brinker Road and Colorado Street about a half mile from the HCA Hospital in Denton. "It has excellent visibility, prominence and the building will really situate beautifully on the site," he explains, adding that it's a high point being carved from a larger tract.

Koll and the Denton-based Sally Beauty have been scouring the Interstate 35 corridor for roughly six months, with no hard-line commitment to staying in Denton. Koll's execs says its selection as developer, though, was more recent.

Koll executives won't say who's selling the land, but will say the tract and the three-story office building will be in Sally Beauty Co.'s name not the developer's. Sally Beauty's existing headquarters is 3900 Morse St. Founded in 1964, it grew from one store in New Orleans to more than 2,700 worldwide.

The Austin-based PageSoutherlandPage's Dallas office has just started working on the preliminary design, says Koll's president Toby Grove, who confirmed the land transaction will be finalized in the next three months. He says it's too early to put a price tag on the project, which is scheduled to deliver in summer 2004.