DALLAS—Statewide industrial development is firing on all cylinders. With a special focus on the Texas industrial sector pipeline, Yardi Matrix offered a sneak peek into the top Texas cities expected to add the most industrial space in 2018.

So far, a total of 11.6 million square feet are scheduled for delivery in Texas' top industrial markets, of which 2 million will be added in Lancaster, TX alone. The top four cities to hit the 1 million square feet mark following Lancaster are Dallas (1.9 million), Arlington, TX (1.5 million), Fort Worth (1.3 million) and Houston (1.1 million), GlobeSt.com learns.

The focal point of industrial construction is the Dallas/Fort Worth market and its respective submarkets (9.9 million square feet). Houston and Pasadena only account for 1.7 million square feet, about 14% of the total amount of space to be added next year.

The top three projects expected to be completed in 2018 are Crow Holdings' 1.2 million-square-foot I-35 Logistics Crossing in Lancaster, the General Motors Assembly Plant expansion in Arlington and Trammell Crow's 1 million-square-foot building A of 35-Eagle in Fort Worth. Spec development is also booming. Of the top 20 projects, only five had a lease agreement before breaking ground.

In addition, e-commerce has driven a larger than average footprint of warehouses built in the US since the early 2000s, with the largest expansions coming in metro areas with the big populations that online sellers covet and the ample land that developers need, according to a new report from CBRE.

The report analyzed the average size of US warehouses built, which doubled during the last development upswing from 2002 to 2007 and compared those figures to the current building period of 2012 to 2017. The analysis found that the average size increased by 143% in that span to 184,693 square feet and the average warehouse clear height rose by 3.7 feet to 32.3 feet in total.

Dallas-Fort Worth experienced an average size increase of 134,613 square feet with the average new building size from 2012 to 2017 being 247,304 square feet. Due to its South-Central location and logistics-serving infrastructure, Dallas-Fort Worth has attracted many large regional and super-regional distribution developments.

Dallas-Fort Worth had the second highest new warehouse construction in the country with 82.8 million square feet being built from 2012 to 2017. Of the 56.2 million square feet in deliveries tracked by CBRE research in Dallas-Fort Worth since 2015, 72.8% were buildings of 250,000 square feet or more.

According to JLL research, Dallas' industrial market remains below its historic vacancy numbers at 7.3% in 2017 with 12.9 million square feet of absorption through the third quarter, GlobeSt.com learns. A couple of industrial acquisitions have recently occurred due to those market dynamics and continued investor interest in North Texas.

Eagle Park 20/35, a recently constructed class-A distribution facility and logistical center located at 1240 East Centre Park Blvd. in DeSoto, TX, has been acquired by an institutional investor. The seller was a joint venture between Ridgeline Property Group and Stockbridge Capital Group. The transaction included the 454,408-square-foot industrial property situated on 29.54 acres. The property is centrally located 15 minutes away from downtown Dallas, and is adjacent to Interstate 20 and Interstate 35. JLL's Dustin Volz and John Huguenard represented both parties in the transaction.

“Eagle Park 20/35 is located in one of the nation's most active submarkets,” said Volz. “DFW's continued economic and population growth makes this asset a tremendous value. Additionally, the accessibility to the major interstate systems and its strategic placement within the region has the building positioned for substantial long-term upside.”

Another industrial acquisition took place in Richardson, TX near US Highway 75. This 82,445-square-foot industrial asset is located at 1301 Apollo Rd. JLL's Craig Phelps represented the buyer, Baker Triangle, in the transaction. NAI Robert Lynn's Kimberly Mathis, Michael Stanzel and John Simons represented the seller, The Richardson Trident Company.

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Industrial Development is Crushing All Expectations

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