$70M Spec Office Project Planting First Class AA Flag in Northern Tier

"We don't believe there will be too many of these types of buildings built there," Greg Fuller, Granite's managing director in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com, "but we do believe there is a need for it. It sets new standards for the market." The 369,000-sf Granite Park Three will be complemented by a parking garage and two-story building with 25,000-sf floors ticketed for retail and additional office space.

The 90-acre park's third office tower takes the total to one million sf, a mix of class A office and retail space. Granite's land can support up to 2.5 million sf.

Fuller says the team volleyed between developing additional class A in a 10-story design or going for the gold by being the first to build class AA space and the tallest building in the northern tier. The building is rising on eight acres at the southeast quadrant of the Dallas North Tollway and Texas 121.

Though it's rising as spec, Fuller expects "there will be some level of lease-up prior to completion." He says several tenants in Granite Park One and Two are looking to expand. The buildings' 500,000 sf of filled, class A space and the momentum of a 93%-leased office submarket has Granite's leasing director Jim Kirchhoff predicting that 100,000 sf or more will be filled by the time doors open. The opening quote is $25.50 per sf plus electric.

Granite Park Three's start was timed to coincide with the final work on the Tollway/121 intersection, Granite Parkway and Parkwood Boulevard. Inside the Granite Park line, the canal will be expanded and pedestrian plazas built to link the trio of office buildings.BOKA Powell of Dallas designed Granite Park Three with a curtain wall, two-story lobby, fitness center, deli and common conference area. Austin Commercial's Dallas division is the general contractor. Weir & Associates Inc. of Arlington is the civil engineer and the Austin-based TBG Partners' Dallas team is the landscape architect.

"The quality of the building has not been seen in this area," Fuller says, equating the design to the caliber of space found in Downtown or Uptown. "The tenants will see the benefits of that quality."