Houston developer buys 12 acres in NW Houston for spec industrial project

08/20/2018

By: Cara Smith – Reporter, Houston Business Journal

 

Yet another chunk of competitive northwest Houston land has been scooped up by a local developer looking to add more industrial properties to the submarket.

Houston-based United Equities, a local developer that focuses on retail, industrial and office developments, acquired two parcels totaling 12 acres in Satsuma Station Industrial Park, a 115-acre business park developed by Houston-based Pinpoint Commercial in the early 2000s. United Equities plans to build two crane-served industrial properties totaling 83,500 square feet on the five-acre tract and up to 90,000 square feet of industrial space on the seven-acre tract, United Equities' Vice President Doug Freedman told the Houston Business Journal.

"There’s a scarcity of quality tracts out here in northwest Houston," Freedman said. "These were the last two tracts in this business park, but I’d imagine it’s the last two tracts in other business parks out here." 

Several business parks in northwest Houston still have remaining tracts of land for sale, but the submarket has grown increasingly dense as industrial developers look to scoop up parcels of land adjacent to U.S. 290 and the Grand Parkway.

United Equities selected Houston-based Powers Brown Architecture to design the spec properties. The company's in-house construction firm will build the properties. NAI Partners' Travis Land will lease the property on behalf of United Equities; he also represented United Equities in its purchase of the Satsuma Station land.

United Equities is working on several other projects in northwest Houston. The company's wrapping up a 40,000-square-foot built-to-suit industrial property on U.S. 290 and Harms Road for Howden, a U.K.-based global manufacturing company. That project will deliver in the next 60 days, Freedman said. In 2012, United Equities developed a Fiesta-anchored shopping center at Fry Road and Farm to Market Road 529; the company's currently developing more pad sites at the shopping center.

United Equities has historically focused on retail properties, though has recently focused more on industrial developments throughout Houston in addition to continuing to seek out retail opportunities. The company has 20 employees in Houston and declined to disclose its revenue.

Just a few miles away from United Equities' developments in Satsuma Station Business Park, Tennessee-based FedEx Ground recently opened its 800,000-square-foot sortation center off the Grand Parkway and north of FM 529. Dallas-based Stream Realty is nearing completion on its 411,442-square-foot cross-dock distribution center dubbed Northwest Logistics Center. It's being built speculatively on 26 acres south of Highway 290 and east of Beltway 8.