HOUSTON – Ridge Development, the industrial development arm of Transwestern Development, has been selected as the master developer for 56 acres of Port of Houston Authority land near the Bayport Container Terminal.
As part of the deal, Ridge plans to construct a build-to-suit facility on 38.4 acres it controls via a ground lease with the Port of Houston Authority. Ridge has proposed two building options: a 449,280-square-foot, cross-dock building or a 450,684-square-foot, rail-served facility. Both scenarios include 199 trailer storage spaces.
In the current design, the rail-served alternative includes the ability to store 280 railcars on-site. The site is at 12619 Port Road in Pasadena, which is on the east side of Houston.
“This project will meet the critical demand in the port area for rail-served industrial buildings,” said Kent Newsom, executive vice president for Ridge. “We are in talks with several potential tenants that have shown significant interest in the flexibility and capacity that this site holds.”
Ridge also will oversee development of a 300,000-square-foot cold storage facility for AGRO Merchants Group on 17.51 acres. AGRO, which specializes in third-party cold storage and warehousing.
The development site is located less than 1 mile from the Bayport Container Terminal. The Port of Houston has plans to construct a new heavy haul road, called Freight Station Road, to provide access from the northeast corner of the site from Port Drive.
“The site represents a rare opportunity to develop a much-needed industrial project within a mile of a world-class container terminal,” said Ben Newell, senior vice president at Ridge.
According to the Greater Houston Partnership, the Port of Houston ranks as the largest port in the U.S. by foreign tonnage for the 19th consecutive year. In terms of container traffic, the Port of Houston is the nation’s sixth-busiest, handling 67 percent of the container traffic along the Gulf of Mexico.
Houston’s industrial market, with a total of 476 million square feet, has remained resilient despite a drop in crude prices. The industrial occupancy rate is Houston has been around 95 percent in recent years.
In the Ridge deal, the Port’s Real Estate Department, under the direction of Ricky Kunz, chief commercial officer, handled the lease negotiations on behalf of the Port of Houston. RD Tanner, senior real estate director, was the lead negotiating executive for the Port. KKNJ Properties LLC, owned by Curtis Spencer, will handle the leasing of the site for Ridge Development.