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.”