The Ft. Worth-based consumer-finance company plans to break ground in January on a 200,000-sf call center adjacent to its North American Operations Center, a 250,000-sf building situated at the corner of Collins and Interstate 20. The second phase will be ready for occupancy in mid-February 2002.

But, there's room to grow without any additional land purchases, Thomas Lehrman, senior vice president-facilities, tells GlobeSt.com. No expansion plans will be entertained until the second phase is finished, he emphasizes.

A preliminary price tag of $30 million has been tossed around, but Lehrman says total project costs are still being worked out. The structure will be a duplicate of the existing facility--just a shade smaller. He says the same team that built the first phase will construct this one. That team had been led by Carter-Burgess Inc., also of Ft. Worth.The building will support a staff of 1,200 to 1,400 workers, who will be recruited from the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. AmeriCredit says the average annual wage will be $32,600. AmeriCredit currently employs about 1,000 workers in Arlington.