GARLAND, TX-Ready to show its mettle as a solo act, Courtland Development will start site work in early September on a $19-million project in the metroplex's northeastern quadrant. Firewheel Distribution Center is the first, but definitely not the last in the developer's plan to build light-industrial space in the suburbs.

Jon Napper, president of the Dallas-based Courtland, has closed on 14.6 acres, less than three months after he made the break as Texas partner for Sacramento-based Panattoni Development Co. Firewheel Industrial Park, planned to rise near the crossroads of Texas 78 and Crist Road, will come out as spec although Napper says there already are leases floating about for the upcoming light-industrial space.

Napper's project will abut the Stockholm-based seller's US headquarters and manufacturing hub. With Atlas Copco Drilling Solutions Inc. as its neighbor, Courtland's leasing team, Dan Spika and Huntley Luna with Dallas-based Henry S. Miller Commercial, are courting its suppliers as well as other likely tenant prospects in the area. Spika also brokered the land sale.

The plan is to build a 128,200-sf structure with a 24-foot clear height and rear dock-high doors alongside a 73,147-sf building with an 18-foot clear height and rear grade-level doors. The smaller building, with a storefront design, faces Texas 78; the larger one fronts Crist Road.

Garland's industrial inventory overwhelmingly is big box. "There are not a lot of these kinds of projects in the Garland market," says Lisa Briner, Courtland's development director. But, it was the location that held the appeal: less than one mile south of General Growth Properties' Firewheel Mall and the George Bush Tollroad.

Napper tells GlobeSt.com that he put the dirt under contract in November 2006 and brought the plan with him when he severed development ties with Panattoni. "Part of our business plan is to do these smaller type units," he says, adding there are two other sites on his radar screen.

Napper says the prototype project most likely will attract tenants seeking more office than barebones-warehouse space because it's so close to residential and retail developments. The design is flexible enough to be divvied into 5,000-sf office suites or 30,000-sf warehouse spots. He says the quoted rates are still being finalized, but spaces with higher office finishes could get $10.50 per sf, net based on the submarket and location.

Firewheel Distribution Center will deliver in February 2008. Alliance Architects Inc. of Dallas designed it. Panattoni Construction Co. is the general contractor.