Sheldon Distribution Center I is slated for groundbreaking on December 1 of this year.

HARRIS COUNTY, TX—The Sheldon Road-Channelview area is home to skilled labor and housing starts have increased by 11.5% in the last year. Access, labor and high-quality space are the primary criteria for companies active in the market, says Robert Clay, president of Clay Development & Construction.

This is the strategy behind Sheldon Distribution Center I, slated for groundbreaking on December 1 of this year. Clay Development & Construction Inc. is building the 214,300-square-foot facility on 11.2 acres at North Lake Houston Parkway and East Sam Houston Parkway North with targeted completion for the second quarter 2019. The property is located at the entrance to the 4,000-acre Generation Park, a mixed-use development. The site allows building expansion to 385,000 square feet.

“The Sheldon Road area is on Houston's east side and just north of the Port, so it's relatively close to the city center, in comparison with industrial sites on the west and north sides of town which are twice as far from the CBD. It's also on Beltway 8/Sam Houston Parkway, the loop that connects the various neighborhoods of suburban Houston,” Clay tells GlobeSt.com. “Although Clay and anybody in industrial development expect continued growth in e-commerce, the market for Sheldon Distribution Center is just as likely to be very traditional users of distribution space: building materials companies, such as tile, plumbing, flooring and electrical manufacturers/distributors. All those new houses need granite countertops, etc. and the new building will have what distribution center users are looking for.”

The features those users have in mind include 32-foot clear-height ceilings and 48- by 52-foot column spacing with 60-foot speed bays. In addition, the building includes 44 9-by-10-foot dock-high doors and four drive-in ramps with 14-by-16-foot overhead doors. Also on site is a 135-foot truck court, 104 employee parking spots and the option of 29 trailer parking spots.

“Sheldon Distribution Center I is the only large new distribution facility available for lease or purchase in this strategic Beltway location between Bush Intercontinental Airport and the Port of Houston. We are pioneering the underserved northeast market with newly built next-generation distribution space as we have in other submarkets, such as 288 and the Port,” says Clay.

John Ferruzzo, John Simons and Ryan Searle of NAI, as well as Charlie Christ of Clay Development & Construction, will handle leasing of the building. Clay Development & Construction is providing construction and architecture for Sheldon Distribution Center I. Construction financing is by Frost Bank.

The center will be a cross-dock distribution facility in Clay's 45-acre Sheldon Business Park. Clay purchased the land for the 32-acre Sheldon Business Park in July 2015. That year, Clay completed a 59,200-square-foot build-to-suit manufacturing facility at 12818 North Lake Houston Pkwy. adjacent to Sheldon Distribution Center I. Lichtgitter, an architectural metal producer, occupies that building. Sheldon Business Park is professionally managed, deed-restricted and provides a regional water detention program and ESFR fire sprinkler system.