Jack in the Box Jumpstarts 210,000-SF Flagship Project

DALLAS-Sacramento-based Panattoni Development’s Dallas team is revving up construction crews for a November groundbreaking on the flagship building to its largest solo project in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. A 210,000-sf distribution center, half of which is leased, heralds the start of the 450-acre Mountain Creek Business Park.

Jack in the Box is taking 105,000 sf in a long-term lease for a Southwestern US distribution center. “It’s the exact kind of tenant that we want for that park,” Al Sorrels, Panattoni industrial partner in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com. “It perpetuates the corporate image that we want to establish out in the park.” The building will be ready to occupy in spring 2002.

The building will be positioned on 14 acres on the south end of the park, which is situated off Interstate 20. Alliance Architect designed the structure and Panattoni is acting as general contractor, according to Sorrels.

Ken Boyd and JR. Tomlinson, both of Jackson Cooksey in Dallas, negotiated the deal for Jack in the Box. Sorrels handled talks for Panattoni. Sorrels says preliminary talks began with prospects for the balance of the structure.

Jack in the Box will be relocating from the Great Southwest Industrial Park, roughly an 80,000-sf building along Avenue R. The quick-service restaurant chain has 1,431 company-owned stores and 331 franchises, as of its fiscal year 2001 close in August. The fourth quarter brought $434 million in revenue, taking the year’s close to $1.83 billion and an increase of 12% over the 2000 revenue total. In fiscal year 2002, the plan is to open another 100 eateries in its 16-state portfolio.

Those kind of numbers are the kind of tenants that Sorrels is chasing. Snagging Jack in the Box is most likely a lead-in to corporate users of the same caliber, he says. “It’s good to plant our flag in the ground out there and it validates the park to get a big name in there as a lead-off tenant.