[IMGCAP(1)]RICHARDSON, TX-After one year of hard work and planning, Koll Development Co. is ready to break ground on a one-million-sf campus, expandable to 2.3 million sf, for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. The starting bell rings Thursday at the 34-acre corporate headquarters site.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield signed the build-to-suit lease late last year. Koll acquired the development site at 1001 E. Lookout Dr. in Galatyn Park in the past two months. “We've had a lot of work to do. It's been a great team effort and we're looking forward to starting construction,” says Tobin Grove, president of the Dallas-based Koll, whose company will own the completed campus. The ceremony is set for 10 a.m.

Grove tells GlobeSt.com that the 15-story and seven-story class A office towers and six-level parking garage will begin to go vertical in early 2008. Delivery is planned for fourth quarter 2009, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield transitioning into the space in early 2010.