Marion Stampley, owner of MTS Enterprises, expects to have five Taco Del Mar restaurants up and running by yearend in North Texas. The two-year business plan calls for opening 25 to 40 restaurants, Rolando R. Leal, associate with Coldwell Banker Commercial in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com. He and CB's vice president Steve Gray are running the site search and lease negotiations for Stampley's rollout.

Leal says the search is focusing on 1,200-sf to 1,500-sf end caps or inline space at power centers, grocery-anchored neighborhood centers, high-density office and malls...any location with high visibility. The One Main Place's West Plaza space is only about 1,000 sf, but the opportunity to start in a premier location was too good to pass up, he says of talks for the 1201 Main St. courtyard spot between two skyscrapers. Stampley's team is negotiating five-year leases with five-year options or a standard 10-year lease.

The Seattle-based chain is a Mexican grill, quick-service eatery with 85 locations in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington plus six in British Columbia, some corporate-owned and some franchised sites. The first restaurant opened in 1992 on Seattle's historic waterfront district. Last year, 25 locations opened and 100 are planned for this year.