HOUSTON—Port Houston continues to thrive, handling nearly 13 million tons of cargo for the year, an increase of 9% from last year. Total container volumes have also grown by 12%, as reported by the Port Commission.
There is 4.3 million square feet in the Houston industrial construction pipeline, with about 29% available for lease, according to NAI Partners. A 500,000-square-foot build-to-suit distribution facility is being developed in Baytown, to be occupied by Vinmar International, a petrochemical marketer and distributor. Land is also being cleared for one of the Houston area's biggest warehouses and job-growth projects so far in 2017—the 1 million-square-foot Amazon distribution center in Katy.
Leasing activity is at 7.6 million square feet year-to-date, taking place across 560 deals in the Houston metro. Kuraray America Inc. recently signed a lease at Bayport Logistics Park, a 185-acre industrial complex in Pasadena. The long-term lease is for 465,851 square feet and will occupy two buildings across 30.5 acres, both of which will be build-to-suit.
Net absorption for the overall industrial market is at 2.7 million square feet year-to-date. For full-year 2016, total net absorption was 10.3 million square feet. Direct space absorbed 11.3 million square feet, more than enough to balance the negative 1 million square feet from sublease space.
“Port-and-rail-oriented developments in the Southeast submarket are a good indicator of Houston's diversified economy,” Leta Wauson, NAI Partners' director of research, tells GlobeSt.com. “There are approximately 295 industrial rail-served properties in the Houston metro with the largest concentration in the Southeast submarket representing almost 13 million square feet.”
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
