South Atlantic Services Inc.'s temporary space is 8000 Market St. in Houston. Tyndall Yaap with the Houston office of Grubb & Ellis tells GlobeSt.com that the lease runs for four months, with options to extend if the build-to-suit isn't done by then.

Yaap and Grubb & Ellis broker, Thad Hickman, helped South Atlantic buy 10 acres along Jacintoport Boulevard at the end of last year. Yaap says the new facility is going up in a heavy industrial area near Channelview outside the Beltway.

The interim space is in an AMB Property II LP-owned, multi-tenant, 355,404-sf warehouse. Jim Nelson with Houston's Dienna, Nelson, Augustine represented the building owner in the lease negotiations.

South Atlantic Services provides liquid and dry storage, reaction chemistry equipment, chemical packaging and processing and transportation services. Its only locations are Houston and its headquarters city.

Yaap says the lease is indicative of the general trend in the industrial market for mid-size companies to exit leased locations for owned facilities. Yaap, echoing what others are saying, attributes the popularity to own to the prevailing low interest rates.

Yaap says smaller companies are getting into the purchasing game as well. But the more likely scenario for that group is the owner will form an independent real estate entity to purchase the building and then lease it back to the company. Yaap says larger companies are more likely to lease so they can keep cash flow in the company.