El Campo set for giant new distribution park 05-15-2018
From the Houston Chronicle.
Two Atlanta-based companies will start the first phase of a 540-acre, rail-served industrial park in El Campo, about 70 miles southwest of Houston, the developers announced.
Stonemont Financial Group and Ridgeline Property Group, along with Kansas City Southern and Houston-based brokerage firm NAI Partners, will break ground on the SW International Gateway Business Park on June 19. The property, with nearly 1.4 miles of frontage along Interstate 69 just south of County Road 421, is served by the Kansas City Southern Railway.
The SW International Gateway Business Park represents a strategic opportunity for businesses that ship goods between the United States and Mexico,” Stonemont Financial Group CEO and managing principal Zack Markwell said in an announcement. “This development will allow the transportation of goods to occur more efficiently.”
Stonemont Financial Group is funding the project, which is being developed by Ridgeline Property Group. The park will have room for more than 200 rail cars.
The park is designed to accommodate up to 10 million square feet of warehouse, manufacturing, and rail-served distribution facilities, with the initial buildings set for completion in summer 2019.
The first phase will contain up to 3 million square feet in four or five buildings, said John Simons, a partner in NAI Partners’ industrial corporate services group. No tenants have been signed.
Being served by rail enables companies to save time and costs by bypassing truck congestion on the border, Simons said. The park could handle a variety of goods, such as paper products, appliances, retail products and petrochemicals. It is within 250 miles of Texas ports at Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Freeport, Galveston, Houston and Port Arthur.
Industrial developments have been expanding in regions such as Katy and southwest Houston to meet demand for distribution of consumer goods. The new project pushes the growth to a new region.
The El Campo location in Wharton County hints at the direction of future growth, said Patrick Janksowki, senior vice president, research at the Greater Houston Partnership.
“It also suggests how important exico’s business is to Houston and that pulling put of NAFTA would damage the region’s economy,” Jankoswki said in an email.
The developers have committed to spend $30 million and create at least 100 jobs within 10 years, City Development Corp. of El Campo executive director Carolyn Gibson said in an email. In exchange, the CDC of El Campo has pledge $3 million to service the debt for building the infrastructure necessary to bring city water and sewer to the site. El Campo’s city council approved the expenditures.
“The impact this project will have on our community, Wharton, and our entire region will be far-reaching,” Gibson said.
Simons, along with NAI Partners’ Holden Rushing and Chris Haro and Steve Pastor of NAI Hanson, are marketing the project, which has rail-served sites that are ready to be developed. Build-to-suit projects can be completed within 12 months of signing a lease, NAI Partner said.
The park could also offer an alternative to West Coast ports. Kansas City Southern provides access to the Port of Lazaro Cardenas on Mexico's Pacific Coast by way of Kansas City Southern de Mexico.