One-Year Industrial Tenant Expands

HOUSTON-A third-party logistics company has added 60,000 sf to an office/warehouse lease in the northeast submarket. The one-year tenant, which now occupies 141,000 sf, also uses the location as the corporate headquarters.

Westwind Logistics Corp., which consolidated three locations last year to 4800 Blaffer Rd. in Houston, took down the extra space at the same rate as the rest, Tyndall Yaap of Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Houston office tells GlobeSt.com. He and colleagues Thad Hickman and Jay Jenckes represented Westwind in the transaction. "We were fortunate in that it's a tenant's market so it was a pretty good deal for them," Yaap says. "We were able to get some concessions and some tenant improvements." He adds the firm's brisk business and an increased customer roster were the motivation for the expansion in the 37-year-old warehouse. Westwind occupies two buildings and leases 40,000 sf in a third in the Blaffer Road complex.

The northeast submarket has registered negative industrial absorption, but activity is picking up now. "I have seen more deals in the past six months than in the past two years," Yaap says. The 20.9-million-sf submarket has a 9.31% vacancy and an average distribution space rate of $2.93 per sf.