Tenant Talks Promising for 458,980-SF Spec Project

The two-building project, totaling 458,980 sf, is situated on 25 acres abutting the DFW International Airport. "Our leasing activity has been strong," Dave Anderson, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com. "We're pulling tenants from the Great Southwest as well as the north airport market." Because the deals aren't signed, Anderson's mum about the prospective tenants' identities. But talks are ongoing and it looks promising for the project, which broke ground in fall 2000.

The spec industrial development marks Oakmont's inroad into the Dallas-Ft. Worth market. In 1998, Oakmont had built its first property in Houston. The airport submarket structure is fully leased to Continental Airlines and Arnoni Aviation. And, says Oakmont's principal Richard Rider, the Atlanta-based industrial developer is keeping its eyes peeled for more land in Texas. But for now, the focus is on completing International Airport Center. "We think Dallas is a terrific market for us long term" Rider tells GlobeSt.com. "We're bullish on the Dallas industrial market."

Rider says the plan is to monitor the leasing success of International Airport Center before putting another DFW project on the drawing boards. The airport acreage, says Rider, will be built out upon completion of the two high-finish spec buildings and there are no options on any adjoining acreage.

Rider and Anderson are optimistic that a deal will be inked soon for the project. "Leasingactivity has picked up substantially in the last three months," Anderson says of the DFW region.

Oakmont's 25 acres are located in a Triple Freeport zone and have access to four major freeways. With the airport as a neighbor, the land also is supported by a heavy fiber infrastructure. International Airport Center, which delivers in late August, is being hawked to air cargo businesses as well as large distribution and logistics operations.

Alliance Architects of Dallas is the designer. CD Henderson of Dallas is the general contractor, with Goodwin & Marshall and Landscape Consultants serving as civil engineer and landscape architect, respectively. Guaranteed Federal Bank of Texas is the construction lender.

The five-year-old Oakmont, though new to DFW, has a three million-sf portfolio, the bulk of which is in Atlanta. Its homeport holdings encompass all of the metropolis' four major submarkets and include tenants such as Home Depot, General Motors, Ford and Illinois Tool Works.