Transwestern Breaks Ground on 2 MSF of Spec Industrial

Cowtown Crossing rendering. Image courtesy of Transwestern

Transwestern Development Co. has broken ground on two distributions centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The projects, located in Fort Worth and McKinney, Texas, total almost 2 million square feet of industrial space. This marks the company’s first foray into the growing local market.

Cowtown Crossing is a three-building project in Fort Worth totaling a little over 1 million square feet. The development site is located at the intersection of East Bailey Boswell Road and Basswood Boulevard, some 3 miles from Interstate 35W and 26 miles west of DFW International Airport. The facility is slated for delivery in 2022 at a projected construction cost of $42 million, according to The Dallas Morning News. Transwestern will also develop new infrastructure in the area through a public-private partnership with the city of Fort Worth.

The company has also started construction on McKinney National Business Park, a 945,000-square-foot light industrial and office campus in McKinney, Texas. The five-building project is a two-phase development, with the first phase slated for completion at the end of next year. The 64-acre construction site is adjacent to McKinney National Airport, less than 3 miles from US Route 75. Downtown Dallas is some 32 miles to the southeast.

Expanding the portfolio

With the Metroplex projects, Transwestern is responding to growing demand for well-positioned industrial facilities brought on by the expansion of e-commerce. The company’s Texas portfolio currently consists of 3.8 million square feet of industrial product, including projects underway.  

As of November, Dallas led the U.S. in development activity, with 37.6 million square feet of industrial space under construction, representing 4.6 percent of existing stock, a recent CommercialEdge report shows. Even with accelerated development activity, the absorption rate remains steady. Industrial vacancy in Dallas stood at 4.5 percent in November, 120 basis points below the national average.

The industrial sector is expected to continue growing in the coming year, and considering the ongoing supply chain disruption and increased transportation costs, proximity to consumers has become crucial.

Transwestern has also been eying other high-growth markets recently. In October, the company partnered with QuadReal Property Group for the construction of Trailhead Logistics Park, a 943,426-square-foot project in Ocala, Fla. The development, still in the planning stages, is the largest such speculative project in the state to date.