"Johnson's typically not a selling company, but A&B made a good offer," says Charles Neuhaus, an in-house broker for Spartanburg, SC-based Johnson Development. "We were happy to have them as owners in the park."
Neuhaus says Alexander & Baldwin liked the location at 10525 Red Bluff Rd., which is near the Port of Houston. He says the buyer also was impressed with the building's quality and strength. "The drainage of the property, as a whole, is outstanding," he says. "Hurricane Ike was a good test of this. We never had standing water or real damage issues with the structure. The storm showed us we picked the right spot for this development."
Alexander & Baldwin is the parent company of Matson, which has global subsidiaries for port terminals, navigation, logistics and distribution. Neuhaus says the new owner is planning to lease up the project over the short term, but eventually wants to put one of its Matson subsidiaries into the building. The only tenant who's landed so far in the warehouse is Bayport Global Logistics, which leased 145,810 sf in a medium-term lease last June.
Meanwhile, Johnson Development Associates isn't committing to starting a second speculative building at this stage due to economic conditions. Neuhaus says the developer would certainly entertain a build-to-suit second phase. But if phase two is spec, he says "we want to wait a month or two to see where the economy is."
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