Dallas-based Koll Development Co. is teaming up with two outside investors to launch a major expansion.

Koll Development is partnering with Dallas businessman Mort Meyerson's E2M Partners and Sammons Enterprises to fund the new effort.

The commercial builder – one of the largest U.S. developers of corporate office and warehouse space – plans to open operations in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay area by year-end.

Koll said it will also expand its office in Houston.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for us to grow our business," Koll chief executive Steve Van Amburgh said Tuesday. "Our pipeline of new business got to the point that we needed to think about how we grew and with the right capital structure."

Koll's partnership with the outside investors comes as many real estate developers are feeling the pinch of a prolonged credit crunch.

"A lot of companies are in more of a maintenance mode as opposed to a growth mode," Mr. Van Amburgh said.

"We have over 1 million square feet of corporate projects we are going to be announcing in the next 90 days," he said, with new buildings in Dallas, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and Nebraska.

Unlike many commercial builders, the bulk of Koll's development is for specific tenants or corporate owners.

"We have over 4 million square feet under development right now, and it's 92 percent leased," Mr. Van Amburgh said. "We are not what you would call a speculative developer."

The company's track record and current building program attracted the attention of several potential investors, Koll officials said.

"This was a unique opportunity to invest side by side with a talented, seasoned and committed management team to continue the growth of one of the nation's leading real estate development firms," said Paul Rowsey, managing partner of E2M.

Koll has completed more than 90 corporate projects around the U.S. valued at more than $2.5 billion. In the Dallas area, the company has built large office campuses for clients including Citigroup, Fluor, Intuit and Denbury Resources.

It is building a 1 million-square-foot headquarters in Richardson for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas.

Koll already is working with other partners. The developer is in a $400 million venture with Prudential Real Estate Services to develop a series of high-efficiency, environmentally friendly office buildings across the U.S.

And in February, Koll announced a partnership with Harbert Management Corp. to invest $120 million in industrial and warehouse developments.