$20M Industrial Project Debuts

"There's a good list of prospects. There is a lot of activity and a lot of pent-up demand," Steve Chilton, director of real estate for Phoenix-based Opus West, tells GlobeSt.com about the delivery of I-20 Crossing, with a front-row interstate seat in a section of the Great Southwest Industrial District with Triple Freeport exemptions. "It won't be long," he says of the first deal. "It's a billboard location."

The 27-acre I-20 Crossing development calls for a second structure, 200,000 sf, but dirt won't turn until the first big box is filled. The Triple Freeport, interstate frontage and cross-dock design bodes well for lease-up despite the struggling industrial market of Dallas-Fort Worth and the Great Southwest Industrial District in particular, Chilton stresses. "We view it on the longer term basis," he explains. "Dallas-Fort Worth is going to be a distribution market for years to come."

Dave Anderson of CB Richard Ellis Inc. in Dallas is leasing I-20 Crossing. The quoted rate is $3.35 per sf triple net. And the nearest competitor is at least two miles to the west.

The Great Southwest is one of the area's largest and oldest industrial districts, but also is shouldering one of the highest vacancies thanks to a high number of vintage buildings in the 1,226-structure, 82.7-million-sf inventory, a large part of which sports just Double Freeport. "Triple Freeport space is at a premium," Chilton says.

Opus West managed to corner one of the last large tracts along Interstate 20, scooping up land at its intersection with Matthew Road and right inside the Dallas County line. And, Chilton adds, the site is tailor-made for "visibility and name exposure for someone with a brand identity.