The Barnes Group Inc. sealed a 10-year warehouse lease for Stoneridge 7 at 8801 Autobahn Dr., an ING Clarion-owned property that's part of a pending portfolio sale. As Barnes finalized the acquisition of KAR Products, a Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. team in Dallas and the national account's primary broker from C&W's Stamford, CT office compiled the list of consolidation possibilities. The consolidation lease was cut in four months.

Rick Hughes, senior director in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com that Stonebridge Business Center won for its ease of access to the Interstate 20 Corridor for the distribution operation and the availability and skills of a labor force for future expansion. He and Noel Hutcheson, also in Dallas, and Frank Brown in the Stamford office, represented the tenant, who will stage a phased-in move-in beginning Jan. 1 and ending in mid-March to coincide with expirations of extended leases. The New York City-based ING Clarion was represented at the bargaining table by Scott Krikorian and Jake Marks, both with Trammell Crow Co.

Hughes says Barnes is backfilling the development's largest opening, taking a 270,490-sf, six-year-old building to 100% occupancy. "We were able to take advantage of very attractive rental rates and achieve a consolidation in the market," he says of the sub-$3 per sf rate, double net with a few special improvements tossed into the package. Developed by Trammell Crow and State Farm Insurance Co., Stoneridge abuts the University of North Texas South Dallas campus.

Barnes will vacate about 83,000 sf along Avenue E in Arlington, leased for the last 10 to 15 years from Gillis Thomas Co. of Dallas. The KAR space will empty about 59,000 in Skyway Circle South, managed by Property Advisors Realty Inc. in Irving for a German investment group.

In February, Barnes paid $78.5 million for competitor KAR Products, a full-service distributor of maintenance, repair and operating supplies for industrial, construction and transportation industries. It was Barnes' eighth acquisition in less than three years. The Barnes Group consists of Associated Spring, Barnes Aerospace and Barnes Distribution, collectively employing more than 6,200 at 60-plus locations worldwide.