GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Atlanta Developer Hangs Dallas Shingle

JDN will open doors on the office within 30 days, taking a spot at 6060 N. Central Expressway, Bob Lilly, JDN's development director, tells GlobeSt.com. He and one other employee will staff the site until later this year when another "four or five" will come on board. "We see Dallas as a great market and one that's going to continue to be great for a long time," says Lilly.

JDN Realty has three projects going with Dallas-based Canyon Partners Ltd., one with United Commercial Realty/ChainLinks and two that are purely JDN-owned.

Less than two weeks ago, the JDN-Canyon partnership broke ground in Frisco on a 16-acre tract for 20,000 sf of inline space at a center anchored by a 16,000-sf Eckerd's drug store and 120,000-sf Kohl's. In about two months, ground breaks on a 19,000-sf addition to a JDN-owned power center at the crossroads of MacArthur Boulevard and LBJ Freeway in Irving. That center already boasts a Super Wal-Mart, Kohl's, Sam's Club, United Artists and PetsMart.

The 2002 push also could bring a ground-breaking for a 150,000-sf, 10-acre second phase to McKinney Marketplace, another Canyon-partnered project. Pre-leasing is under way right now as is the marketing for the UCR joint venture project at the intersection of Interstates 820 and 20 in Fort Worth, where Home Depot is up and running. Meanwhile, the Marketplace at Mesquite, as reported earlier this week, is close to hanging a "no vacancy" sign.

Still to come is development of a 20-acre site in Hickory Creek, where JDN has hawked eight acres to grocer Tom Thumb. Lilly says that project will get under way after the grocery store breaks ground. A construction timeframe has yet to be determined for the Denton County project.

JDN Realty is affiliated with Goldberg Properties of Denver. The REIT's 100 plus, 20-state portfolio of shopping centers primarily is anchored by grocery and discount stores, with Wal-Mart and Lowe's being the largest customers.