Clay Development & Construction, a design-build firm, is constructing the build-to-suit at the intersection of Rossyln North Houston and West Road. The project at 7611 Railhead has been in the talking stage for nearly two years and will take about a year to complete, Robert Clay tells GlobeSt.com.

Marc Drumwright of Southwest Realty Advisors has represented Novo Industries in the negotiations with Clay. Novo is owned by Royal Group Technologies Ltd. of Woodbridge, Ontario.

According to Clay, Novo already owns about 1.5 million sf in Houston's northwest corridor. The latest steel-frame building will be constructed with pre-engineered plastic panels, a Roycet Building System that's manufactured by a Novo sister company, says Clay.

Houston's build-to-suit and design-build business is booming, at least for Clay Development & Construction. Clay attributes the current market to conditions that have rent equaling new construction costs and the fact that most industrial users typically now prefer to own their buildings. If anything, new construction on these types ofproperties is rising. Clay estimates that five out of every seven industrial deals that have come down the pike in the past two years are tenant ownership transactions. He says its a marked change in the attitude that had prevailed in 1998 when leased sites had been the preferred strategy employed in the bulk of the city's transactions.

Clay currently has industrial projects totaling more than 100,000 sf in the works in Houston. The company is headed up by a father-son team, Albert W. Clay III and Robert Clay, who are descendants of Adam Clay, for whom the CBD's Clay Street is named.

Instant Insights /

Novo Industries' 393,000-SF Build-to-Suit Off and Running

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