Location is Differentiating Factor for Houston Industrial Project
Rankin Distribution Center is located at 13800 North Freeway less than 2 miles from Houston’s Beltway 8, 4 miles west of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and a 20-minutes from downtown and The Woodlands.
HOUSTON—Houston trade by metric tons increased 9.7% from October 2018 to October 2019 and it continues to rank first in tonnage in the country, according to a fourth quarter 2019 industrial report by CBRE. This trade demand translates into corresponding industrial space demand throughout the metro.
In that vein, Trammell Crow Company Houston and its JV partner Clarion Partners have broken ground on a 352,303-square-foot industrial building, Rankin 45 Distribution Center. The project, located at the northeast corner of Rankin Road and Interstate 45, spans 22.5 acres within the North Houston Industrial submarket and will be substantially completed by August 2020.
The class-A cross-dock industrial building will feature a 32-foot clear height, 52-foot column spacing, an ESFR sprinkler system, 259 parking spaces, 23 trailer parking spaces, 60-foot speed bays and four drive-up ramps. The speculative project is designed to target medium- to large-sized distribution, fulfillment, e-commerce and light industrial users in Houston.
“The Rankin 45 Distribution Center is one of the best located industrial properties within the North Industrial submarket,” said Jeremy Garner, a principal of Trammell Crow’s Houston business unit. “The site features frontage along I-45, which is the region’s busiest north-south transit corridor and the primary artery for business traffic between Houston and Dallas. We believe this exposure, coupled with the site’s proximity to Beltway 8, will appeal to a variety of industrial tenants seeking a visible footprint in Houston.”
Rankin Distribution Center is located at 13800 North Freeway. The site is a 20-minute drive from both downtown Houston and The Woodlands, and near several popular North Houston neighborhoods.
“The main differentiating factor for this project is its location,” JW Fields, a vice president with Trammell Crow Houston, tells GlobeSt.com. “The site has 775 linear feet of frontage on I-45 providing tenants premier visibility on the most traveled north/south corridor in Houston, is only 2 miles north of Beltway 8, is 4 miles west of Bush Intercontinental Airport and equidistant, approximately 16 miles, from downtown Houston and The Woodlands. Another distinguishing feature is that the site can accommodate up to 59 trailer parks, an increasingly desired feature among industrial users.”
Powers Brown Architecture is the designer and A&F General Contractors is the general contractor for the project. CBRE Houston’s Faron Wiley, senior vice president, and Joseph Smith, senior vice president, have been appointed leasing agents for the project.
Consumer goods companies led demand in 2019, driving absorption of more than 10.6 million square feet, 1.2% below historical high set in 2016, according to a fourth quarter 2019 industrial report by CBRE. Total 2019 annual construction deliveries reached a record high of 14.41 million square feet, a 3.47 million-square-foot increase from 2018.
Overall the market is stable with vacancy at 5.9% and preleased space at 22% of new construction, which is consistent with previous quarters, says CBRE.