The deal for 1541 Champion Dr. was crafted by Ron Bullock of the Wilcox Group, who represented the tenant. The building owner's interests were negotiated by Craig Hughes, marketing director for the Holt Cos. in Dallas, and Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust's Dallas team of Randy Wood, marketing and leasing manager, Rob Riner, regional director, and Margaret Lonsford, asset manager.

Hughes tells GlobeSt.com that Nature's Formula, a contract manufacturer for health and beauty products, had been talking and shopping for about a year--signing late last week on the dotted line. The freestanding warehouse will replace 18,000 sf leased in the 2000 block of Hutton Drive, a TIG Real Estate Services-leased property; 40,000 sf along Champion Drive in a Lincoln Property Co. building; and 60,000 sf along McKenzie Drive, owned and leased by First Industrial.

Nature's Formula, Hughes says, had the leverage needed as an existing tenant to get a good deal. The end result is First Industrial hangs onto the tenant, as does Valwood, and the tenant gets to put all operations, including the headquarters staff, under one roof.

Hughes says the signing wrangled an early-out, with three years left on the term, for the McKenzie Drive building, due to be vacated Wednesday. The Lincoln lease was ended a year early while the Hutton Drive space, which has about 15 months left on the term, will be phased out as the manufacturing line is transferred to 1541 Champion Drive. Hughes says Nature's Formula will look for a sublease tenant for Hutton Drive once the transition is completed, which should take about six months. The new address, built in the early 1980s, is being outfitted with 21,000 sf of headquarters office space.

Hughes says Nature's Formula spent the past year surveying options, including the prospect of a build-to-suit. The search was kept to the Valwood area because it is centrally located for employees and an operation heavily reliant on the accesses to the NAFTA Highway, LBJ Freeway and the new George Bush Tollway.