ALLEN, Tex.--In partnership with the Allen Economic Development Corp. (AEDC), Houston-based Sentinel Capital recently broke ground on the first phase of AllenPlace, a master-planned 22.5-acre, 700,000-square-foot, five-building, class A office park located along the east side of North Central Expressway between Millennium Drive and Butler Drive in Allen.

KONE, a Finland-based elevator and escalator business, announced earlier this year it would be the main tenant, with over 200 company employees, for the $26-million first phase of AllenPlace.

“KONE is a globally recognized company that will generate 200 high-paying jobs in Allen,” Dan Bowman, executive director/CEO for AEDC, told GlobeSt.com. “The project kicks off the first phase of AllenPlace that will provide much-needed office inventory to meet growing demand from existing and relocating companies."

“Getting to this point was a huge team effort,” says Sentinel's Greg Nelson. “KONE's commitment was key because a project of this magnitude is very difficult without pre-leasing.”

The groundbreaking includes 250,000 square feet of new construction, including a 102,000-square-foot office building in which 77,000 square feet is available for lease.

“We are very pleased to see construction of class A office space under way to help KONE expand and grow in Allen, and to fill a critical need for more high-end office space in our community,” says Bowman. “With low class A office vacancy, we expect the additional office space to lease quickly.”

KONE Americas employees and officials were on hand for the groundbreaking, including New Equipment Business Operations (NEB) director Aaron Ites and NEB senior vice president Mikko Korte.

Ites and Korte said they are enthusiastic about construction commencing and look forward to operating from their new space in the coming year.

In addition to office space, KONE's commitment includes light manufacturing and test facilities in the first phase of development, according to Site Selection Group senior vice president Jeff W. Patman, who represented KONE in their site selection. Ben Appleby, partner with Paladin Partners, represented Sentinel in the transaction. He and the Paladin Partners team will be responsible for the leasing efforts at AllenPlace.

According to Allen mayor Stephen Terrell, the city of Allen had owned the parcel for 30 years; he credited the efforts of the public and private partners for bringing the AllenPlace project to fruition.

Sentinel is developing the project in partnership with Centra Partners LLC and Triad Real Estate.