DFW Industrial Shows Signs of Life in Recovery

FORT WORTH—Dallas-based CanTex Capital recently acquired a two-building 124,658-square-foot facility at 4901 N. Beach St. The firm has started renovations on the rebranded Beach Industrial Park property, which has space for two tenants of 72,000 square feet and 52,658 square feet or one tenant with a mix of office and warehouse space.

The location of the property is appealing to tenants due to its highway access, less than one mile from Interstate 35 and Loop 820. It is also 20 minutes from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Two features of the facility, air conditioning and outside storage, are in high demand in this industrial market.

“We have been looking at acquiring industrial assets in the Fort Worth market for the past year and are thrilled that Beach Industrial Park is our first,” said Romit Cheema, CEO of CanTex Capital. “NAI Robert Lynn showed amazing professionalism throughout the transaction, so we wanted to continue to work with them to lease the property.”

NAI Robert Lynn Fort Worth president Todd Hubbard brokered the sale on behalf of G&W Ventures and now serves as CanTex Capital’s owner representative to identify tenants for this industrial asset. “CanTex Capital shows the strength of the Fort Worth industrial market, which is in a great position to weather this unprecedented pandemic as e-commerce, population growth and onshoring of manufacturing drive the market,” Hubbard said. “We expect e-commerce to increase by at least 10%, and we’ve seen companies already in discussions to move their manufacturing back to the United States and a number of out-of-state manufacturing companies looking to relocate to Texas. The affordable housing, business-friendly government and the population growth of Fort Worth and Dallas will allow industrial real estate to lead the way in recovery from COVID-19’s economic damage.”

He points out that the convenience of food ordering has gone from a luxury to a new norm, causing industrial to thrive. And, Hubbard says COVID-19 has indeed caused some collateral damage but this pause has resulted in manufacturing companies rethinking how to do business. And, much of that discussion surrounds bringing operations back to the United States.

“These companies have more control over operations if they bring them back to the US. Companies with facilities in Brazil, Hungary and Europe, at some point want to get facilities back home,” Hubbard tells GlobeSt.com. “The anticipation is that e-commerce will increase to 20% of the total US economy, which will result in the need for an additional 500 million square feet of industrial space nationwide. Those numbers could be larger. We are going to be the first out of this pause because population drives everything and we have the population to support it.”

As for how the DFW industrial sector will rebound, Hubbard points to several indicators of positivity.

“In April, we were at 85% of normal activity. May was tougher but still a good month. Due to the 30 day-trickle effect, July and July is when we will get back to normal. Industrial and retail activity has picked back up since the end of May,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “Office is the biggest unknown right now. Perhaps less space will be needed because many people have been working from home but perhaps more space will be needed due to social distancing.”