435,179-SF Spec Draws Fossil as First Tenant

GARLAND, TX-First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. has nailed its first lease for the just-delivered, 435,179-sf First Garland Business Park in northeast Dallas. The christening is a 154,991-sf deal with publicly traded Fossil Inc.

Dealmakers aren’t discussing the expansion, but GlobeSt.com has confirmed the term runs five years for 3901 W. Miller Rd. It’s also been confirmed that the Chicago-based winner was pitted against ProLogis of Denver and Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. in the final face-off. And, it’s a safe bet that talks got particularly aggressive, given the slowdown in industrial leasing.

The Fossil lease, in fact, topped the submarket’s second-quarter absorption by 13,407 sf, according to the latest stats from CB Richard Ellis. The most current vacancy reading is 10.4% for the 96.7 million sf of industrial and flex product in the northeast sector.

Fossil, headquartered in Richardson, TX, was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle/Staubauch executive vice president Sharon Morrison and associate Bill de la Chappelle. Dave Anderson, a CBRE executive vice president in Dallas, is First Industrial’s point man for the spec building, which sits on 20.2 acres near Interstate 635 and North Central Expressway.

Sources say First Industrial won the nod because the spec building is just one-third of a mile from Fossil’s corporate-owned warehouse at 10615 Sanden Dr. in Dallas. The 517,500-sf building, built in 2000, sits on 29.9 acres, with Fossil in control of an abutting 17.4 acres of undeveloped land.

First Garland Business Park, developed by First Industrial’s senior development officer Terry Darrow, has 30-foot clear heights, 52 cross docks and 33 trailer parks. The North Texas Data Exchange shows the office/warehouse space is being marketed at $3.40 per sf per year net with projected operating expenses of $1.07 per sf.