DCT® Featured in BizJournals.com: Colorado’s DCT Industrial Trust lands anchor tenant for its 35-acre Houston development

February 20, 2018
An Article in BizJournal.com by Cara Smith
Colorado's DCT Industrial Trust lands anchor tenant for its 35-acre Houston development

In around six months, Denver-based DCT Industrial Trust Inc. has fully leased its speculative industrial park that's underway near Port Houston, one of the Houston area's most land-constrained submarkets.

DCT (NYSE: DCT) broke ground last fall on DCT PetroPort Industrial Park, a two-building, 252,000-square-foot industrial park on 35 acres of land at 850 Sens Rd. At the time, one 163,000-square-foot building was preleased to a still undisclosed tenant, and 89,000 square feet was remaining.

Houston-based Leader Gasket Technologies, an international manufacturing and distribution company, recently leased the remaining 89,000 square feet, Justin Bennett, senior vice president at DCT, told the Houston Business Journal. The Welcome Group's Ryan Wasaff represented Leader Gasket and Cushman & Wakefield's Kelley Parker, Coe Parker and John Littman represented DCT.

'There is virtually no available land in this immediate area, which led to a bidding war for the vacancy at our project,' Bennett said.

Leader Gasket couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

DCT PetroPort will deliver in April, Bennett said, and Leader Gasket will move into the park in June. It's unclear how many employees will be moving into the park, but the company will be relocating from its global headquarters at 905 W. 13th St. in Deer Park, Bennett said. Leader Gasket's new space in DCT PetroPort is larger than its current Deer Park space.

DCT acquired the 35 acres from one Fortune 200 company and one Fortune 100 petrochemical company; Bennett approached the companies in 2015 with hopes of buying their off-market land.

For several months, the answer was no. Though the land wasn't developed, the companies had several good reasons to hold onto the land. The city's petrochemical industry is undoubtedly in growth-mode, and with several significant projects set to come online in the coming years, companies could do well to hold onto extra land for future expansion and development.

The land brought substantial development challenges, Bennett said, such as a general lack of utilities and 22 pipeline easements.

'In my 15-year development career, I've encountered only one site that rivals the complexity of the PetroPort project,' Bennett said. 'As with any speculative project, there were certainly peaks and valleys.'