"I've not seen anyone make a distribution decision based on fuel pricing," Jon Napper, Panattoni Development Co.'s Texas partner, tells GlobeSt.com. It's the North Texas' middle-of-the-country positioning that has it reaping the benefits as nationwide distributors look to consolidate. As a result, big boxes are in. Indianapolis-based Duke Realty has 900,000 sf under construction; Dallas' Champion Partners and Argent Property Co., each are bringing 600,000 sf out of the ground; and the Sacramento-based Panattoni has a little more than one million sf in two buildings rising. All, says Napper, are spec in a market already boasting 400 million sf of industrial space.

What Napper is noticing is that construction prices, more notably subcontractors, rates are slicing 10% off going rates in the wake of a construction slowdown, here and elsewhere. "I've seen numbers that shock me," confides Napper, "but it's because people want work."

In the DFW region, Napper says incoming and expanding existing operations eye up freeway access more so than railroad lines before settling on a location. The intermodal yards are a plus, but they are few and far between. Most of the region's rail lines lead to AllianceTexas and that, says a Hillwood contact is, as the commercial says, "priceless." And close by is Alliance Airport, a leading cargo facility worldwide, thanks to FedEx's presence.