GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Koll Picks Teams for $200M-Plus Program

The initial plan for a one-stop leasing shop was changed so that market presence can play into the decision. "We will look at them [CBRE] first," Jake Ragusa, Koll's senior vice president and mastermind of the development, tells GlobeSt.com, but adds that the leasing assignment won't be a given. CBRE does have a presence in each of the targeted 10 Intellicenter markets so it conceivably could end up with the entire 1.5-million-sf assignment, he explains. Dallas-based Koll's JV backer on the highly specialized development is the Newark-headquartered Prudential Real Estate Services.

CBRE was up against several other nationwide brokerage houses for the initial assignments. "We like CB because they have a very strong people in place in all the target markets that we've identified," says Mark Cashman, Koll's senior exec leading negotiations for development sites.

The Dallas building, set to break ground in early to mid-February, will be leased by Dennis Barnes and Randy Cooper. The 200,000-sf project will rise on 14.8 acres in Regent Center in Irving.

In Houston, Phil Arnett and Kyle Kelley won the nod for a 150,000-sf project on 12 acres in the Westway Business Park. Construction begins in mid-January.

The Atlanta development, which broke ground in recent months, is being leased by Stephanie Marino and Tracy Ridgeway. The 150,000-sf development in Gwinnett County will deliver by midyear 2006.

Ragusa says there are no deals in the hopper. "We are talking to a number of different prospects," he says. "We're very encouraged. Once we get a little further along we're going to have some very strong prospects."

The LEED-certified buildings take nine months to build. They will range from 150,000 sf to 200,000 sf, each costing $20 million to $25 million. Gensler of San Francisco and Forum Studio Inc. of St. Louis designed the Intellicenter-branded buildings. Though rents will vary by market, Ragusa says preliminary quotes are $13.50 per sf to $14.50 per sf, triple net.

Given the nature of the business, the Koll execs aren't tipping their hands about where ground will break next. What they will say is that "at least two more sites will be under contract" in the first quarter and the land in hand by the second quarter. Other acknowledged hotspots are Charlotte, NC; Riverside, CA; Phoenix; Tampa, FL; Austin, TX; Raleigh-Durham, NC; and Northern California.