Granite Gets First Tenants for New Class AA

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PLANO, TX-With just months to go before delivery, Granite Properties has landed its first tenants for Granite Park Three, a spec mix with 363,313 sf of class AA office space and 45,000 sf of retail. Doors swing open for both tenants Oct. 1.

Newly merged law firm Albin Harrison Roach has inked a seven-year lease for 8,138 sf on the fourth floor and Original Pancake House signed for the long term for 4,500 sf in the abutting two-story retail component. Gregory P. Fuller, Granite’s managing director in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com that the mixed-use project, rising at the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and Texas 121, will get its certificate of occupancy in August, with the space immediately turning for tenant finish-out to meet the Oct. 1 opening date. “They will be the first tenants to open for business,” he says.

Ric Kanatzar, assistant director in Dallas for Studley, says Albin & Harrison began its search about a year ago before merger talks began with Roach LLP. As the requirements shifted, the lawyers zeroed in on Granite Park Three because “it portrays a great image for them for corporate business and attracting and retaining new talent,” he says.

The former Albin & Harrison has put its owned 3,600-sf, two-story office building at 4221 Preston Rd. in Frisco up for lease. Kanatzar has priced it at $20 per sf to $25 per sf plus electric. The Roach team will be relocating from an 8,922-sf office at 5000 Legacy Dr., a leased location with the contract set to expire at September’s end.

Though the new space is smaller, Kanatzar says the floor plate is far more efficient so it’s a good fit for the 11-attorney team at a lower overall occupancy cost. “At the end of the day, the way their space laid out, it was at least 10% more efficient than anyplace else we looked at,” he says.

Kanatzar says negotiations produced a flat-rate deal with a first right of refusal for another 2,500 sf. Granite’s leasing director Jim Kirchhoff is quoting $25.50 per sf plus electric.

The 14-story Granite Park Three, with a five-story parking garage, is touted as the only space of its caliber and height in a 10-mile radius. “I believe it will be first location of choice,” Fuller says, pointing out that Granite Park One and Two rose as spec and now are 100% filled. “So we are well ahead of where we were with the other two.”

Jason Puig with Dallas-based Staubach Co. represented the Original House of Pancakes. Granite’s retail leasing is being handled by Tim Donovan with the Retail Connection in Dallas.