HOUSTON — The Houston Waterworks Team is underway on the expansion of the Northeast Water Purification Plant, a project valued at approximately $1.7 billion. The project aims to shift a growing population’s reliance on groundwater to surface water and represents the largest design-build project for a water treatment plant that is underway in the country. The team has tapped McCarthy Building Cos. for several aspects of the larger project, which is expected to be fully operational by early 2025. McCarthy will construct a 30,000-square-foot raw water intake pump station building as well as a central plant as part of its involvement.
DALLAS — A partnership between The Kroger Co. and online grocery retailer Ocado Solutions will open a 350,000-square-foot fulfillment center off Interstate 20 in Dallas, a project that is expected to create about 400 new jobs. Construction is slated to begin in early 2020, and the facility is expected to be operational within 24 months of the groundbreaking. JLL’s Terry Darrow, Elizabeth Jones, Forshey Hoobler and Brian Leonard represented Kroger in the land acquisition. CBRE’s Nathan Lawrence and Krista Raymond represented the seller, Ridgeline. Kroger and Ocado have two similar facilities in development in Monroe, Ohio, and Groveland, Fla. Additional facilities are planned for metro Atlanta and the Mid-Atlantic region.
TULSA, OKLA. — CBRE has negotiated a 60,000-square-foot industrial lease at 5402 S. 129th East Avenue in Tulsa for an undisclosed warehouse and distribution tenant. David Glasgow, Matt Klimisch and Alex Powell of CBRE represented the landlord, Boardwalk 55 LLC, in the lease negotiations. The property, which is now fully leased, spans 200,000 square feet and features 28-foot ceiling heights, 20 dock-high doors and two drive-in doors.
SPARTA, N.J. — NAI James Hanson has arranged the sale of a 5.7-acre industrial development site in Sparta, located about 45 miles west of New York City. The property in situated within the 31.5-acre White Lake Commerce Park, which is comprised of 12 lots zoned for warehouse, office, distribution or manufacturing development. The buyer was Tomco Construction. NAI Hanson’s Sig Schorr and John Schilp represented the seller, Berardi Development Co., in the transaction. The NAI team also represented Tomco Construction.
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. —Toy wholesaler Y&W International Inc. has renewed a 10,000-square-foot industrial lease for in East Brunswick, located approximately 35 miles south of New York City. The building is situated within Edgeboro Corporate Center, a two-building, 84,000-square-foot flex property located one mile from the New Jersey Turnpike. The tenant will continue to utilize the building as a showroom and distribution center for its products. David Zimmel of Zimmel Associates represented the landlord, Denholtz Properties, in the lease negotiations.
SUMNER, WASH. — Bridge Development Partners has purchased a 3.8-acre land site at 3113 142nd Ave. East in Sumner, a suburb of Seattle, for an undisclosed price. The company plans to develop Bridge Point Sumner South, an industrial building, on the site. Slated for delivery in third-quarter 2020, Bridge Point Sumner South will feature 82,591 square feet of space, divisible down to 30,000 square feet; LED interior and exterior wall pack lighting; ESFR fire protection; 32-foot clear ceiling heights; two drive-in doors; 14 exterior docks; a 125-foot truck court; and parking for 63 cars. Thad Mallory, Taylor Huff, Cam Warren and Blake Bentz of Newmark Knight Frank brokered the deal for Bridge and will serve as leasing agents for the project.
BOLINGBROOK, ILL. — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has signed a 25,523-square-foot industrial lease in Bolingbrook. The car manufacturer will use the space as a training facility for its employees. The 112,049-square-foot building is located at 1325 Remington within Carlow Corporate Center. The property features a clear height of 28 feet, 242 car parking spaces, three drive-in doors and 11 loading docks. FCA will begin occupying the space in January. Jordan Decker and Chris Cobb of Cushman & Wakefield represented FCA in the lease transaction. Dominic DeRose, Vern Schultz and Charles Canale of Colliers International represented the owner and developer, Opus Group.
New Jersey’s industrial market continues to expand, driven by a plethora of industries, including retail, manufacturing, food companies, transportation and logistics. As the popularity of e-commerce shows no signs of abating, New Jersey has become a key location for distribution centers and last-mile delivery hubs to serve the entire Northeast region. E-retailers are scooping up available industrial space, taking advantage of New Jersey’s excellent air, freight, port, and rail infrastructure that links it to the rest of the region and the country. Increasing Demand After taking a slight breather during the first quarter of 2019, in part due to a lack of available high-quality space, total leasing activity has increased by 20 percent during the past three months, bolstered by more than 20 leases exceeding 100,000 square feet. Absorption was widespread, with occupancy level increases in 16 of 25 submarkets for both the quarter and year over year. In total, 2.4 million square feet of positive net absorption was recorded during the second quarter of 2019, the highest level since the third quarter of 2018. Moreover, occupancy levels increased by 8.6 million square feet during the past 12 months, the eighth consecutive quarter where more than 8 million square feet …
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Amazon will open a regional air hub at Fort Worth Alliance Airport in October, a move that is expected to bring 300 new full-time jobs to the region. The build-to-suit project is the first of its kind in the Amazon Air network and will support the Seattle-based e-commerce company’s larger-scale regional needs, including sortation capability and infrastructure to handle multiple flights daily.
MCKINNEY, TEXAS — KDC will develop a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for Raytheon at the defense contractor’s Space & Airborne Systems headquarters in the northern Dallas suburb of McKinney. The project, construction of which is slated for a late 2020 completion, is expected to bring 500 new jobs to McKinney. In 2014, KDC delivered a 489,000-square-foot office complex for Raytheon at CityLine in Richardson.