Skyline Business Park will launch with the usual fanfare associated for such an undertaking, marking the largest and most significant industrial development for the suburb situated southeast of Dallas and home to televised rodeos. The mid-morning kickoff will include city officials, Panattoni-Hillwood leaders and build-to-suit tenants, Shippers Warehouse and Icon Health & Fitness, each being outfitted for 400,000-sf structures. The project also includes 130,000-sf of spec space. At full build out, the park will encompass 1.7 million sf. With this project, Mesquite is getting 2.5 million sf of new industrial space.

Panattoni-Hillwood, a joint venture that includes Ross Perot Jr., bought the acreage in 1998 from Ross Perot Sr., who still owns 65 acres adjacent to the proposed Skyline Business Park. "Most likely we'll continue to develop out the park and buy from him as we need it," Panattoni-Hillwood principal Tal Hicks told GlobeSt.com. The park is situated on the west side of Town East Blvd. about one mile south of Texas 80.

The acreage carries a Triple Freeport exemption, granted in January. That, coupled with the availability of more land and a good labor pool, enhances the project's ability to compete in the northeast Dallas submarket. The Icon build-to-suit is expected to be finished by year's end, with Shippers Warehouse's building and the spec space delivering concurrently in February, says Hicks.