When Daniel Kirkwood went into real estate development with his father Al Kirkwood in 2004, he didn’t expect bowling alleys or coffee shops to be part of the business plan.
Four years later, Vancouver-based Kirkwood and Kirkwood is active in real estate development but is also making a name for itself as an aggressive business developer.
In July, the company acquired franchise rights to future locations of Seattle-based Tully’s Coffee in the Vancouver-Portland metro area. Daniel Kirkwood said there are plans to open five Tully’s stores in three years with about 12 employees each, starting with a drive-through at Hazel Dell Square. A second drive-through is planned for Eastside Spectrum on Southeast 164th Avenue in Vancouver, next to Big Al’s.
“Ultimately, in everything we do, we want to do with absolute first-class quality,” he said. “Tully’s is a high-end coffee shop with nicer furniture and fireplaces. It’s more of a quaint meeting place than Starbucks.”
Currently, there are several Tully’s kiosk locations in grocery stores in the metro area, including one at Fred Meyer in Salmon Creek in Vancouver, and Kirkwood and Kirkwood will not take over the franchise rights of the existing locations.
Meanwhile, Kirkwood and Kirkwood is expanding its family entertainment supercenter Big Al’s to sites in Beaverton, Clackamas and North Clark County.
Big Al’s was the company’s first business development venture.
“It was (my father’s) big idea to do a high-end family entertainment center,” said Daniel Kirkwood. “The only way to control the quality of construction, customer service and food was to run it ourselves.”
About 150 people work at the Big Al’s Vancouver location, including 15 full-time managers.
Kirkwood and Kirkwood also is an investor in Tualatin-based Gramor Development Inc.’s redevelopment of the Vancouver waterfront.
“Gramor is running the show and we have some input, but it’s their development,” said Daniel Kirkwood. “We’re kind of learning from them, to be honest.”
The development company’s commercial property portfolio also includes Kirkwood Business Park at Salmon Creek and the 20-acre Eastside Spectrum next to Big Al’s. There, the company is building out 33,000 square feet of retail space with another 30,000-square-foot development slated for 2009.
Eastside Spectrum will include locations of Vancouver-based Dot Donuts, Lake Oswego-based Labella Nails and Vancouver-based Tiger’s Garden restaurant, Kirkwood said.
The developers are in negotiations with four other tenants.
The family-owned business is run by Al, Sandee, Daniel and Melissa Kirkwood with a total of seven employees.
He declined to share the company’s revenues, but said it is poised for continued growth.
“We’ll continue to grow, but it’s hard to say what you foresee,” he said. “If you told us five years ago we’d be in the bowling and entertainment business, I’d have told you that you were crazy.”
Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com.
