Can-Am Express Inc., headquartered in Fargo, bought the acreage from Celadon Trucking Co., which has gone south to Waxahachie, retaining direct access to Mexico via Interstate 35 or the NAFTA Highway while fulfilling a need to be closer to Interstate 20. Celadon's recent exit fueled a more heated marketing effort, landing Can-Am Express as the buyer, H. Allen Gump, managing director in Dallas for Colliers International, tells GlobeSt.com. "The difficulty," he adds, "was getting somebody to locate north of Denton."

It's the second development tract to sell this year along Interstate 35 between Denton and the Red River. A 14.2-acre parcel near the Wal-Mart distribution center in Sanger was sold to Dallas-based Colonial Equities, which intends to build the multifamily component for a large residential project planned by Hebard Construction. Don Ostroff, director of multi-housing investments for Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc., brokered the sale from Hebard Construction to Colonial Equities.

Can-Am's president Robert Nelson tells GlobeSt.com that the Denton property came "at a good price," affording opportunity for future expansion and an address closer to Denton. The firm entered the Texas market in June 2002 when it bought the Johnny Forest Trucking Co. in Sanger. The North Texas division, which transports refrigerated goods to and from the West Coast, has been leasing a site along a rural road in Sanger.

The new location is 4981 Barthold Rd. at the northernmost tip of Denton, just a stone's throw from the interstate. The Denton land contains a 14,000-sf truck maintenance building, 1,000-sf supplemental structure and eight acres of surface parking. The holding, Gump says, was in "ready-to-go shape." Celadon owned the Denton County site for seven years, says the sole broker for the deal.

Nelson didn't rule out additional development, but did say that's not in the immediate future. Its Fargo facility contains 600,000 sf. Can-Am also has facilities in Fairfield, OH and Albany, NY.