Cigna will uproot teams from three leased locations in the North Texas cities of Carrollton, Dallas and Irving and move them to the four-story office building, the opening act for a 43-acre tract earmarked for build-to-suit projects by Dallas-based CMC Realty Group. Jesse Pruitt, CMC principal, tells GlobeSt.com that "activity's been good" on the 29.7-acre balance of the land, with the drawing board holding two 180,000-sf office buildings for 11 acres abutting the Cigna site at 1640 Dallas Pkwy.
"All we're concerned about right now is the Cigna building and the next 11 acres," Pruitt says. "Hopefully we can expand Cigna and we're talking to other corporate users."
Site work began in late summer. Cigna's building will start to go vertical in three, possibly four, months. CMC got a long-term triple-net lease last May from Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp. after spending more than one year competing for the project. Pruitt says the dealmaker was the location: a 13.3-acre tract at the northeast corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Plano Parkway and one block north of the President George Bush Turnpike.
Dallas-based Corgan Associates Inc. designed the Cigna project, which is being sized up for LEED Silver certification. Key Construction, also from Dallas, is the general contractor. The four-story structure, with 50,000-sf floor plates, is designed with two wings and east-west positioning on the site to take advantage of natural lighting. It also sports a rain-capture roof system. The interior includes a fitness area, full-service cafeteria and medical station with a full-time nurse. "All three were important to Cigna," Pruitt stresses.
David Toomey, president and general manager for Cigna's Texas division, says the new building and its built-in amenities will help attract and retain employees in addition to bringing the entire team together under one roof. "The North Texas area--where we serve many thousands of individuals and employers--is very important to Cigna," Toomey says in a press release.
Pruitt says CMC had its construction financing in hand in early June, beating the collapse of the capital markets and allowing the project to proceed in a time where construction has slowed to a crawl. "We were lucky to find the site, get it financed and it's exactly what Cigna wanted," he says. And when it's done is when he'll decide if it's a hold or sale, letting market conditions dictate the outcome.
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