Despite Site Challenges, Jupiter Miller Business Center Begins Demolition On Former Raytheon Campus

After purchasing the Raytheon campus in March, developers Eric Langford and Brian Flaherty have completed abatement and started demolition on what will become a $50M distribution center called Jupiter Miller Business Center in Garland.

The partners plan to start ground-up construction this summer and deliver summer 2018. 

Although the site was known as the former Raytheon campus, two sellers owned the 70-acre site made up of eight buildings. Langford Property Co.’s Eric Langford and Flaherty Development’s Brian Flaherty will develop 40 acres of the urban infill site into two 400K SF distribution centers. 

The site presented several challenges, Langford said. The developers had to mitigate groundwater contamination on part of the site. Some of the buildings were built in the 1950s, many had asbestos and the land was once an airport, Langford said. 

The sale was also complicated because it had two sellers. JLL’s Craig Phelps and Brad Selner represented one seller, Raytheon. Younger Partners’ Carter Crow, Byron McCoy and Trae Anderson represented the other, Lexington.

Carter said because Raytheon had been in the buildings for so long, the depth of the foundation was unknown in some areas, as were complete building records. In one building, Raytheon and Lexington shared a wall and therefore electricity and HVAC systems, McCoy said. 

The redevelopment of the site is somewhat unusual for this location, Carter said.

“We’re starting to see these urban infill deals because we’re running out of land in parts of DFW,” he said. 

Langford and Flaherty just finished a similar urban infill project in Arlington called Cooper 1-20 Business Center. 

Langford said he is hopeful that the industrial market has a couple of more years left in its cycle.

“Industrial has strong demand, and an infill location like this has less competition,” he said.