The long-term lease with DDL Post Associates Inc. of McLean, VA, went full cycle in 45 days, with the build-out fast-tracked in 17 days to meet a June 1 key-turning for the mail-sorting operation. Jim Lob, senior vice president in Dallas for Grubb & Ellis Co., tells GlobeSt.com that the 140,160-sf Building 600 at 920 Minters Chapel Rd. in Grapevine near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport scored the win for location, 39 dock doors and the owner's "ability to meet a condensed timeline."

The class A office/warehouse building, marketed at $4.90 per sf triple net, was up against four others in a fast-paced search of the submarket for a location with a minimum 27 dock doors to handle incoming and outgoing mail. Neither side will say just how aggressive the deal got, but the final contract runs long term with flexibility rights for termination, according to Lob.

Building 600 is one of six on the ground developed by Seefried Properties Inc. of Atlanta for San Francisco-based AMB Property Corp. Rick Medinis, executive vice president for Robert Lynn Co. in Dallas, says there are deals in the pipeline to fill the building's 35,360-sf balance by month's end. "The interest in the building is prompting us to move ahead on one, maybe two, more buildings as soon as we can," he says.

The park's build-out plan calls for eight buildings totaling 800,000 sf, with designs of 108,000 sf and 98,000 sf left to build. Medinis says the additional spec product will begin to rise by first quarter 2005.

Sam Beasley of Fast-Trak Construction Inc. in Dallas handled finish-out to turn the shell space into a 3,000-sf office and ready-to-go warehouse area plus secured the occupancy certificate. The project team included Seefried's Brian Flaherty and James Condon. "It was less of negotiation and more of problem solving," Medinis says of the fast-paced turnover.