The just-completed speculative manufacturing facility at 8721-A Clay Rd. was listed at $1.5 million and sold to Apoena Corp., which will move in shortly. The deal was negotiated by Chris Kugle, Travis Land and John Ferruzzo of NAI Houston.

Meanwhile, European Tile and Marble Design Inc., headquartered in Anaheim, CA, will begin operations in its design-build facility within the next 40 days. Jeffory Stringer, managing director with StoneBridge Real Estate Development and Investments, says another 20,000-sf building is available for lease or sale. Meanwhile, he has three permits in hand to break ground on more.

"We'll break ground very soon on an additional 25,000 sf and two more 20,000-sf buildings," Stringer tells GlobeSt.com. "That will leave me with two acres for a build-to-suit." He adds that one of the 20,000-sf buildings on the drawing board could go as a build-to-suit, but will go vertical as spec, if necessary.

Stringer, who bought the land for the park in late 2006, says the time line for the Clay Road Industrial Park development was 36 to 48 months. StoneBridge is on track to meet that goal, and Stinger anticipates the entire construction process should be complete by late 2008 or early 2009.

The Houston developer has statistics on its side when it comes to demand for industrial space. According to Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Q4 2007 industrial report for Houston, the northwest far submarket had a 7.6% vacancy; meaning out of a 78.1-million-sf inventory, 5.8 million sf is vacant. The northwest near total shows a lower vacancy rate of 4.8% with 1.7 million sf vacant out of a 36.5-million-inventory.

"We're at the heart of the industrial sector, at Clay Road and Hempstead, which is very active," Stringer notes. "The demand is definitely there."

StoneBridge has developments on the north, far east and southwest submarkets in addition to Clay Road Industrial Park. The company will soon break ground on its newest project on 10.5 acres in Missouri City, TX.