Briggs Equipment has occupied 8787 Wallisville Rd. at least 30 years and has signed a 10-year lease to stay in place, Jim Tudor, a Twinrose Investments' partner, tells GlobeSt.com. The seller is a Briggs' Dallas subsidiary, Sammons Realty Corp.

Tudor says he was told the building was for sale and immediately jumped in with an offer, as did several others. Twinrose's new buy sits on 10 acres in the northeast sector of the Inner Loop. The building is designed with 29,771 sf of office space and the balance is warehouse space.

Tudor says the acquisition is intended to be a long-term hold, with the buyers taking out a $3.4 million loan through Bank of America. Amy Nutz, associate director with the Dallas office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, arranged the financing.

"Long-term prospects for industrial space in the Houston market are quite strong," Nutz said in a prepared statement, "extensive facility expansions at the Port of Houston and the Bush Intercontinental Airport, as well as continued improvements to Houston's highway and infrastructure system, will reinforce the region's draw as a major manufacturing, distribution and industrial center."

Twinrose planned to spend about $25 million for industrial and retail product this year, but so far it's only put out $12 million, according to Tudor. Its other asset is a 39,015-sf retail center in Irving near Dallas. But, he stresses, Twinrose is looking for more properties to buy...and Houston is definitely on the radar screen.