Clay Sells Manufacturing Campus to Blacktop

HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Blacktop Industrial Trust has entered the Houston market with the acquisition of a multi-tenant heavy industrial manufacturing campus from Houston-based Clay Development & Construction.

The company, which was founded in 2024 by real estate industry veterans Thomas A. Rizk and Roger W. Thomas, purchased Rosslyn Business Park in northwest Houston in partnership with a global alternative investment firm. JLL Capital Markets advised Blacktop on the transaction.

Clay Development & Construction, founded in 1998, is led by Robert Clay.

The 337,705 SF, 11-building campus is fully leased to seven tenants including Baker Hughes, KoneCranes, and Amogy. The campus is situated on 45 acres on North Houston Rosslyn Road, about two miles south of State Highway 249.

Built over several decades, Rosslyn Business Park features industrial outdoor storage areas and buildings with clear heights from 20-55 feet, heavy power, overhead cranes, reinforced concrete floors, sprinkler systems, and drive through capability with oversized grade level doors.

“We’re excited to acquire this premier heavy industrial infrastructure campus in Houston,” said Ricardo Cardoso, CEO and Managing Partner of Blacktop. “This specific sub-type of industrial real estate continues to outperform other commercial real estate categories and delivers unique operational capabilities that make tenants extremely sticky. Rosslyn Business Park is emblematic of one of the high conviction theses we are currently pursuing – investing in infrastructure intensive, heavy industrial properties in markets with strong secular tailwinds. We have a number of additional transactions in our pipeline and look forward to announcing these investments in the near term.”

Blacktop said strong demand for manufacturing space, which represents 35% of total demand in the Houston region, and limited new supply positions assets such as Rosslyn Business Park for long-term growth. The company is investing in Houston as vacancy at manufacturing facilities was just 1.3% in the second quarter.

“Houston offers substantial port infrastructure and the labor advantages we seek, and we are applying the same disciplined sourcing approach across the Sunbelt, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic to build a portfolio with resilient cash flows and long-term relevance,” said Christian Vergilio, CIO and Managing Partner of Blacktop.

In Northwest Houston, Clay Development broke ground last year on Northwest 99 Business Park, which included a spec manufacturing building, a rarity in Houston’s robust industrial realty market.

With offices in Boca Raton, Fla., Blacktop Industrial Trust is focused on acquiring and managing heavy infrastructure industrial and shallow bay multi-tenant industrial properties in select markets. The platform invests alongside institutional and private capital, targeting assets that are crane-served, rail-connected, and power-intensive at discounts to replacement cost.

Blacktop is backed by Rizk Ventures, a platform with investments in real estate, technology, and healthcare founded by Thomas A. Rizk. Rizk Ventures owns and operates 26 million SF of properties across the U.S.