Business Specialties Leasing
First Industrial Inks Tenant to 500,000 SF Near Houston Ports
July 7, 2008
By: Tonie Auer, Southwest Correspondent

Houston-based third-party logistics firm Palmer Logistics has leased almost 500,000 square feet of warehouse space from First Industrial Realty Trust at InterPort Distribution Center in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.

Specifics of the lease were not disclosed.

The InterPort development (pictured)--which includes industrial, distribution and warehouse facilities --was built in 2007. The Houston Chronicle report said Palmer Logistics leased 468,000 square feet of the center’s 598,000 square feet.

More than one-half of Palmer Logistics’ business is transported by the ports in Houston.

“This served a dual purpose of being close to the ports and because of its size,” Palmer executive vice president Brett Mears told CPN today. “We wanted to position our client in the best place and this location is only three miles from both of the main container ports. The size also played a major role.”

The Port of Houston handles 69.6 percent of the Gulf Coast containerized cargo market and 95.5 percent of the containers moving through Texas. Much of that activity takes place at Barbours Cut Container Terminal, the largest container terminal on the Gulf Coast.

First Industrial Realty Trust has broken ground on a second speculative distribution center near the port with 735,000 square feet of space.

“Based on the success we’ve had with the first phase, we broke ground on the second phase,” Troy MacMayne, regional director with First Industrial, told CPN. “With the demonstrated interest in the port and the absorption there, we started Phase II, which should be completed by December. This is largely driven by the Bayport and Barbours Cut terminals and the overall energy industry to help spur development there.”

Palmer Logistics is a Houston-based third-party warehousing, packaging and distribution firm handling products including food, lumber and chemicals, among others.

 
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