The 20-acre project consists of a 289,000-sf industrial distribution facility and a 27,300-sf flex building positioned at the intersection of West Military Highway and International Parkway here. The buildings will deliver in spring 2004.

Ed Kepner, vice president of development for Argent Property, tells GlobeSt.com that the project is all spec, but he's not too worried about finding tenants because there is a shortage of comparable space in the market. "There is no other major product for lease in the area," he says.

Argent delivered 300,000 sf in two buildings in the Sharyland park at the 2002 close and both are filled. More recently, another developer wrapped up work on a 102,000-sf building, right across the street, and it too is filled.

According to the McAllen Economic Development Corp., the city's 11.9-million-sf industrial inventory is 97% leased. Various projects have about 500,000 sf under construction in Sharyland Business Park and another 500,000 sf rising in McAllen, Mission, Pharr and Edinburg, says Nancy Boultinghouse, marketing director with the economic development board. The shortage of industrial space, she says, has been a problem for awhile in the area so she too expects the new space won't last long.

Argent Property acquired the 20 acres from Dallas-based Hunt Valley Development, Sharyland's developers. The project's general contractor is EE Reed Construction LP in Houston.

The acreage is part of a foreign trade zone, a designation that is "always important" to prospective tenants, Kepner says. The Argent buildings also are situated in the heart of maquiladora country, a clustering of assembly factories that are wholly or partly owned by foreign countries along the Mexico-US border. Developments like Sharyland Business Park provide valuable warehouse and distribution space to the burgeoning maquiladora industry. The Sharyland roster includes such names as Bissell Homecare Inc., Black & Decker Corp., Corning Inc., Emerson Electric Co. and Whirlpool Corp.