Alabama Firm Buys Land for 20,000-SF Office Building

After looking nearly nine months for the right land, the Stewart Corp. is finalizing plans to build a 20,000-sf office building near the intersection Texas 114 and 161, Brett Owens with Henry S. Miller Commercial in Dallas tells GlobeSt.com. "The intersection of those two highways was key to their decision," he says. Land in the Las Colinas-Irving area is running $4 per sf to $6 per sf.

BOKA Powell LLC's Dallas team is designing the building. "They'd like to occupy toward the end of the year, but realistically 2007 is more likely," says Owens, who partnered with Henry S. Miller Commercial's office division president Greg Trout to represent Stewart.

Owens says the search included a review of existing buildings and available land inventory. He says the limited stock of 20,000-sf office buildings pushed decisionmakers to lean toward construction. And, he adds, the Archon site "was better than all the others." The company presently houses its regional office in slightly less leased space in a building along Royal Lane.

"They prefer to own all their property," Owen says. "And, they were looking for better exposure." According to Owens, Archon had been planning to build a class A office building on the Cabell Drive tract, but then decided to sell it to a user. John Huff with Magellan Commercial Realty Inc. in Irving represented Archon.