Buyer Tramontina USA Inc. was one of three that put an offer on the table for the manufacturing site, which was closed more than a year ago with the takeover of Kent Electronics by Avnet Inc., Bill Byrd with the Houston office of Colliers International tells GlobeSt.com. Shortly thereafter, Avnet labeled the holding at 1400 Gillingham Lane as excess real estate and put it on the market as it reeled in the Houston operation to manufacturing hubs in Dallas and Phoenix.

Byrd and Mike Taetz, also with Colliers in Houston, represented Avnet. Bob Berry of Dallas-based Staubach Co. negotiated for the buyer. Berry did not return telephone calls by press time for comment on the acquisition.

The seven-year-old building was marketed at close to $9.8 million, selling for a bit south of the asking price. Harris County Appraisal District placed it is Gillingham Lane$7.2M assessment built in 1996.

Byrd says it was on the market for a year, in part, because it is fully air conditioned and has 36-foot clear heights. According to Taetz, the building is considerably larger than the mainstream industrial product on the market in the region, a factor that considerably narrowed the list of potential buyers.

Tramontina has moved into the needed expansion space, which is complementing its US operations hub at 12955 W. Airport Blvd., also in the Sugar Land Business Park. Based in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, the buyer manufactures household goods and hardware.