Texas Direct Auto Buys HQ Site

Texas Direct Auto paid "just south" of the $699,000 ask for 1915 Highway 90A in Missouri City, John Ferruzzo with NAI Houston tells GlobeSt.com. The Internet wheeler and dealer is moving into the location as the seller, Quail Valley Marine Co., makes its exit. The deed transferred with a one-month lease so the business of Ronald and Linda Johnson of Missouri City could be boxed for the move-out, he says.

Texas Direct Auto is vacating a leased site at 104 Industrial Blvd. in Sugar Land. The ownership move doubles the firm's workspace, according to Ferruzzo.

Ferruzzo, who ran the buy side with NAI's Dan F. Boyles Jr., says the headquarters search began four months ago with a dozen sites in the southwest submarket. Three Fort Bend County buildings made the short list, but the deal-makers for the Johnson's 1.5-acre property was the ready-to-go parking area, once used for boats and now ticketed for vehicles, and frontage along US Highway 90A.

Jarret Venghaus and Mark Nicholas with Dallas-based Staubach Co.'s Houston office represented the Johnsons. Venghaus says the property hit the market 10 months, went under contract and fell out, driving a second marketing with Texas Direct Auto then jumping into the play.

With a second site at 11315 W. Little York Rd. in northwest Houston, Texas Direct Auto labels itself as a volume wholesale distributor for southwest Texas. The company sells 1998 or newer vehicles on eBay. According to the company's website, the bulk of the inventory still has factory warranties and comes from dealer sales, off-lease sales, franchise dealers or banks and credit unions.