Houston

The Carson Cos. of Newport Beach, CA, acquired Bayport North Distribution Center in La Porte, about 25 miles southeast of Houston. The complex includes two industrial buildings totalling 565,000 sf built to handle cargo from the Port of Houston.
The Khoshbin Co. of Irvine, CA bought the 18-building North Belt Industrial Park, a 474,000-sf complex on 30 acres in Houston near George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
And, as reported in the last issue of IPJ, San Francisco-based AMB Property Corp. also picked up 913,000 sf of distribution space and 59 acres of developable land near Bush Intercontinental Airport. The purchase was part of a portfolio deal that included properties in Seattle, Dallas and Atlanta.

Airport expansion, however, including development of a $180 million air cargo distribution center, drove both the AMB and Khoshbin buys. The distribution center will feature a 500,000-sf warehouse and an increase in ramp capacity to handle 20 wide-body aircraft. Though AMB senior vice president John Meyer says the Houston airport is not as dynamic as Dallas-Fort Worth's, additional flight links with Central and South America promise a substantial boost in cargo traffic in coming years. Activity is projected to increase about 4% annually, exceeding 800,000 tons by 2017.

Californians aren't the only ones showing interest in Houston. Atlanta-based IDI, Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. and El Paso, TX-based Verde Realty all made first-time entries into the market in the past year, including establishment of regional offices. Duke opened its Houston office in March but didn't make its first industrial buy until October, when it purchased two parcels totaling more than 100 acres in the city's rapidly growing north and northwest markets.

One parcel marked for development is Westland Business Park, where Duke plans to build a five building complex totaling 800,000 sf. The second will hold Houston Intercontinental Trade Center, another five-building complex totaling 890,000 sf. IDI acquired a 103-acre site for development of eight buildings with 1.2 million sf of distribution space. Verde, a regional player with properties on both sides of the US-Mexican border, is set to begin construction on a nine-building bulk warehouse complex with more than one million sf. In addition, an affiliate of New York City-based Morgan Stanley acquired an 180,000-sf warehouse in Pasadena, TX, a city near the Port of Houston, and has an option to buy an adjacent 12-acre site for future development.

Houston has one of the nation's lowest industrial vacancy rates. The Q3 report from Grubb & Ellis Co. puts the figure at 5.5%, its lowest level in eight years. The average annual rent of $3.57 per sf is the highest in five years. But the report also notes that Houston has become a hot spot for industrial construction because of the strong economy and increased port capacity. Though the inventory increased by only 315,273 sf in Q3, nearly 2.1 million sf of speculative space has been added since January. Moreover, some 4.2 million sf of spec space was in construction during the past quarter. High construction levels don't seem to worry investors, however. According to New York City-based Real Capital Analytics Inc., the market experienced $595.3 million in transaction volume through September, with prices rising a heady 34% to $51 per sf since the end of 2005. RCA calculated the weighted average cap rate at 7.1%.

Instant Insights /

Port, Airport Lure Investors to Houston

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