Black Creek Group Buys 165 Acres for Dallas Industrial Park

Mace McClatchy, Senior Vice President & Market Officer, Black Creek Group. Image courtesy of Black Creek Group

Black Creek Group has completed the acquisition of 165 acres of land in Dallas that will soon become home to I-20 Logistics Park, a 2 million-square-foot industrial campus.

Black Creek is co-developing the project with Archway Properties, which spent roughly two years culling what amounts to 42 parcels of land that had belonged to 18 different owners. Black Creek, which currently owns roughly 10.7 million square feet of industrial real estate in Texas, will own 100 percent of the property, with Archway serving as development manager.

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Archway relied on Tom Clarke of Transwestern for representation in the land acquisition phase of the endeavor, but bringing the parcels together was only the first step in what would prove a complex undertaking. In a prepared statement, Archway concedes that getting the I-20 Logistics Park project off the ground was a uniquely challenging opportunity that most people in the market viewed as not being feasible. However, Black Creek, which has been working with Archway on the project for the last several months under a co-development agreement orchestrated via the representation of CBRE’s Ryan Thornton and Nathan Lawrence, was undaunted.

“Without Archway’s time and efforts over the past 24 months, this deal would not have happened. They formulated a solid assemblage plan and stuck with it, managing many sellers—many of which were private individuals—a task that deterred many capable developers,” Mace McClatchy, a senior vice president & market officer with Black Creek Group, told Commercial Property Executive. “While credit goes to Archway for having the stamina and vision for the project, we are very eager to take on this opportunity as Black Creek has the development expertise and resources to bring the industrial park to life.”

I-20 Logistics Park will materialize in two phases, with Phase I yielding the first 1 million-square-foot building. Phase II will feature another 1 million-square-foot facility for build-to-suit opportunities or speculative projects for single or multi-use tenancy. The partners plan to commence development of the first building in the third quarter of 2021.

Feeding a hungry market

Archway’s years-long effort amassing land for I-20 Logistics Park is likely to prove a wise move, as enviable market fundamentals indicate that the project, which will sit along the I-20 Corridor near the second-largest FedEx Ground facility in the U.S., will be well received. “We are seeing strong population and job growth in the area, both of which drive demand for warehouse space,” McClatchy said. “Additionally, the growth of e-commerce demand is only adding fuel to the fire, rapidly accelerating the demand for industrial space not only in Dallas, but also across the U.S.”  

CBRE is spearheading preleasing activity for both buildings at I-20 Logistics Park. Phase I is on schedule to reach completion in the third quarter of 2022.