LA PORTE, TX-Kuraray America Inc. has bought 81 acres of rail-served land in the Bayport Industrial Complex near the Port of Houston. The company, which is the American subsidiary of Kuraray Co. Ltd., a Japanese company, plans to build a chemical plant on the land, according to a company announcement.
Kuraray America acquired the land, which is located at 13100 Bay Area Blvd., in a sealed bid sale process led by John Littman, senior director of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc.’s Houston office, and his partner, Kelley Parker. The city of La Porte sold the land, which is one of the last large rail-served parcels in the industrial park, for $7 million, according to a source close to the transaction.
Littman tells GlobeSt.com that Kuraray was one of three bidders for the land; the other two were industrial developers. “The offers were wide ranging,” he says. “The land could have ended up industrial warehousing or manufacturing.”
Littman says the deal is notable because land sales have been rather pretty slow, especially to users. However, the parcel’s proximity to the Port and the benefit of Union Pacific rail-service made it attractive to both users and developers.
Kuraray has yet to announce any specific details regarding its new chemical plant including size, capital investment or timeline, and the company declined to provide any additional information to GlobeSt.com. The company’s written announcement says the land acquisition is part of its “strategic plan to expand Kuraray's core business of Vinyl Acetate Chemical chains centering on Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA).
Currently, the company has two other facilities operating in the Houston area, Littman says. It employs more than 200 people in the US, and the chemicals it produces are critical components in building and coating materials, adhesives, home textiles, man-made leather, dental materials, carpets, furniture finishes and laminated safety glass.
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