Trans-Trade's plan is to move in Sept. 1 to Duke's International CommercePark at 1040 Trade Ave. Ken Wesson, principal of Lee &Associates DFW in Dallas, says the decision culminates nearly 18months of searching for an expansion site. He tells GlobeSt.comthat 40,000 sf of the 70,000 sf that Trans-Trade leases at HeritageBusiness Park in nearby Grapevine will be tossed onto the subleasemarket for the 18-month duration of its five-year lease. Thebalance will be occupied by one of its customers. Trans-Trade, aGrapevine-based, 20-year-old freight forwarder, also owns abuilding at 5401 Alliance Gateway in AllianceTexas that it intendsto keep.

Wesson says the expansion search focused on airport or close-inairport sites, with a dozen locations pared to five for the lastround. Key to the final decision was the Foreign Trade Zone statusthat comes with being on airport land. The 527,100-sf InternationalCommerce Park's interior provided the necessary 15,000 sf for anoffice and the exterior lived up to the parking requirement for thelogistics firm's 100 workers, Wesson says.

"Duke also was able to give us temporary storage space inCoppell to solve Trans-Trade's immediate needs," Wesson adds."After working it one and a half years, the moon and the stars cameinto line. Now, they have operations at Alliance and DFW."