Marriott Reserves First Office Spot in Shops at Legacy

Dallas' Karahan Cos. has three buildings moving into the final construction lap at Legacy Town Center, a class A project anchored by a lake and Doubletree Hotel. Two structures, totaling 87,333 sf, are strictly retail while the third is a street-level retail, second-floor office design of 57,000 sf. Bob Buell of CarrAmerica Realty tells GlobeSt.com that his next signing for the 30,000 sf of office space will take place in two weeks. "There's a lot of good activity up there," he says, adding that the retail line-up too is in the midst of finish-out.

Marriott's five-year lease comes at a time when the office market appears to be on a comeback trail of sorts. Buell says the lease was in the talking stage for quite awhile. He brokered the deal for Karahan while Michael Quint and Adam Arnold, both of Dallas-based Jackson-Cooksey, represented the tenant at the bargaining table.

Buell says Marriott was attracted to the full scale of amenities in the project fronting Bishop Road. Mike Twichell of Twichell Co. in Dallas is the project architect; Manhattan Construction's Dallas team, the general contractor.

Construction on the shops, for the most part, started in summer 2001 although the ribbon was cut long before then on a 112,000-sf Robb & Stuckey's. The next ground-breaking has yet to be decided, says Buell.

Karahan's up and coming retail openings include Bob's Steakhouse, Mi Casina. Kathleen's Art Cafe, Starbucks, Lester Melnick and Women's Empowered Golf. At full build-out, the project will add 310,000 sf of retail and about 80,000 sf of office space to the Plano submarket.