When the work's done at 910 10th St., the asset will measure up to submarket peers valued in the $30 per sf range. David Cartwright, a partner in Dallas-based Holt and Frontier Equity, says the complex will be renamed to City Warehouse Plano, standing as the second piece of vintage real estate for a specialty play aimed at making the space usable once again and filling it with tenants for a long-term hold. Gutting has just begun; exteriors will be next. If all goes as planned, the work will be done by year's end, opening the door for tenant finish-outs.

Capital Wire & Cable vacated the 351,494-sf and 58,600-sf structures several years ago, leaving 18 acres at the hard corner of US Hwy. 75 and Plano Parkway for a build-to-suit in McKinney. Frontier Equity bought the asset about six weeks ago from a local partnership, which got the deed in February 2007 from the wire and cable maker.

Cartwright says Frontier Equity's City Warehouse plan is being guided by finding the right buildings in the right locations. The launch pad was a one-million-sf, 12-building complex on 65 acres at 5200 E. Grand Ave. in East Dallas that was originally developed by Ford Motor Co. After 18 months, the holding is 90% leased, he points out. "It was an attractive price per pound that allows us to give great rental rates," Cartwright says.