Jockeying Begins for 562,243-SF Portfolio

It most likely will be the third quarter before ground breaks on another 330,000 sf in 165-acre Frankford Trade Center, which now has 70% of its three-million-sf build-out under roof in 10 buildings, Doc Cornutt, Argent's president, tells GlobeSt.com. So for now, Argent's hard focus is on picking the buyer for the 80%-leased portfolio being marketed by CB Richard Ellis Inc.'s Dallas team of Jack Fraker, Randy Baird and John Robinson.

"There is now zero supply of class A industrial warehouse on the market in Dallas," Fraker says, noting the portfolio came to market with a no-minimum ask. Interest is high, particularly from a top-notch crowd of pension fund advisers and REITs with capital to spend.

Fraker says the offering consists of one build-to-suit and three multi-tenant warehouses, all leased to well-known names in business circles. Three buildings delivered in 2001 and one at the start of this year.

It's been nearly two years since the last sale in Frankford Trade Center, according to Fraker. The last offering was much like the one in hand: "new construction, leased with a stabilized, reliable income stream." And that, Fraker quickly points out, is when the pension funds and REITs jump into the bidding.

Argent vice president Tom O'Dwyer says there is no timetable to bring out more spec product. Still, says Cornutt, it's important to have the designs done and the permits cleared so ground can break when they feel the timing is right.

The up-and-coming spec project will leave Argent with two sites along Frankford Road. Both, Cornutt confides, are earmarked for garden office and showroom development.

Frankford Trade Center, strategically positioned in a Foreign Trade Zone, carries a build-out value of $150 million to $200 million, according to Cornutt's calculations. The park is located near the intersection of 35E and the George Bush Turnpike, where rent is bringing $3.75 per sf to $5.75 per sf for industrial product. The tenant roster includes Home Interiors and Gifts, Herman Miller, Genlyte Group Inc., Corbett Lighting, Conway Communications and Mary Kay Inc., which is awaiting delivery of a 187,000-sf distribution center.

Cornutt says master-planned, deed-restricted industrial parks have always been popular, but will become more so in the years ahead because they reflect "standards that will stand the test of time." Frankford's synergy among the users, he believes, is its chief selling point to tenants and the buyers now being courted.