Wanted: 100,000 SF Right Now, 400,000 SF for Long Term

Fossil, one of the nation's leading watch and accessories manufacturers, has tapped the Dallas office of Manhattan-based Newmark Real Estate Inc. to lead the search to replace its 190,000-sf corporate-owned headquarters and an abutting 125,000-sf warehouse at 2280 N. Greenville Ave. in Richardson--both of which are up for sale, according to Rebecca Griffin, Newmark's executive managing director in Dallas. The decision at hand does not affect Fossil's 517,500-sf warehouse and distribution center at 10615 Sanden Dr. in Dallas, she tells GlobeSt.com.

"It's no secret with the employees," Griffin says about the decision to publicize the search. "The ultimate decision will be based on economics. If they kept it quiet, it would be difficult to get communities to compete." She says about 10 telephone calls per day have been coming in, but mostly from brokers and economic development officers chasing the long-term plan. Because Fossil owns its sites, she says there is no pressure for a long-term decision, but there is for the short-term need of 100,000 sf. "The short-term solution," she emphasizes, "will by no means dictate where Fossil ultimately will call home. That decision will be driven by economics."

Griffin says all areas will be considered for the short- and long-term plans, but the search predominately is focused on a 15-mile radius of the existing headquarters, bought in 1994. But, she adds, there are exceptions such as her meeting yesterday with the Billingsley Co. for a spot in its International Business Park in Carrollton, which is holding an empty building due to Gadzooks Inc.'s bankruptcy.

Griffin says the timeline calls for a short-term decision within 30 days. Fossil's immediate need is to get space for another 100 employees that Griffin says will be added this year to the 800 workers that the 16-year-old corporation now employs. According to Griffin, the company has been growing by 15% per year.

The Newmark team is tasked with developing plans for a headquarters build-to-suit, corporate campus, renovation of Fossil's existing buildings and sizing up what's in stock in Dallas/Fort Worth. Griffin says the "ideal" solution is to get enough office space to have the designers, product developers and corporate staff under one roof and hold onto its owned warehouse and distribution center in Dallas. Besides Griffin, Newmark's managing director Michael Myers, associate director Kimberly Jenkins and associate Wilson Stafford are working on the assignment.