Hines to develop 107-acre business park near Sam Houston Race Park
July 26, 2018
Houston Business Journal
Houston-based Hines announced July 26 that it has purchased 107 acres in northwest Houston to develop a new business park.
The site is at the southeast corner of Beltway 8 and Gessner Road and adjacent to the Sam Houston Race Park, according to a July 26 press release. The release lists Houston-based Maxxam Inc. as the seller but does not disclose a purchase price. An entity with the same address as Maxxam is listed as the owner of two parcel at the site totaling nearly 106.7 acres and valued at more than $8.13 million combined for 2018, according to Harris County Appraisal District records.
“After considering several strategic options, we carefully selected Hines as our counterparty for this transaction,” Maxxam President and CEO Charles Hurwitz said in the release. “We have owned this property for years, and I am looking forward to witnessing Hines take the property through its the next stage of development.”
The future Grand National Business Park will include more than 1.5 million square feet of industrial/logistics space as well as an amenity retail center and a business-class hotel, per the release. The park will be able to accommodate tenants ranging from 20,000 square feet to 1 million square feet and will be developed in two phases, with the first consisting of 500,000 square feet of logistics space. Hines is also offering land within the park for sale for retail and nonlogistics uses, per the release.
Jim Foreman and Allison Bergman at Cushman Wakefield will handle leasing for the project.
“We are pleased to follow our success in the immediate market area with Houston’s most core logistics location,” Hines Senior Managing Director Palmer Letzerich said in the release. “In addition to its phenomenal location and reduced transportation and delivery costs, Grand National Business Park offers tenants enhanced visibility from Beltway 8, as well as unique access to labor, restaurants and amenities. We have solid activity on the site already and are very much looking forward to starting construction.”
Three small parcels located directly on the southeast corner of Beltway 8 and Gessner contain a Best Western Plus, the Steamboat House steakhouse, a Jack In The Box fast-food restaurant and a Chevron gas station, per Google Maps. A spokesman confirmed that Hines does not own any of those parcels, which total 5 acres. There are several other similar developments in the area, including small retail centers, a few hotels and several office or industrial buildings, per Google Maps.
Hines also is part of the team behind Pinto Business Park, which is about 7 miles east of the future Grand National Business Park. Just last month, the Pinto Business Park inked a 108,000-square-foot lease with North Carolina-based Kitchen Cabinet Distributors and welcomed Emser Tile, which leased 600,000 square feet of industrial space last year. In late May, Dallas-based Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages announced it would build a $250 million production and distribution facility in the park.
Also in May, Hines announced it would develop a 150-acre Class A business park called Pintail Crossing. Hines is partnering with Katy Partners Ltd. on the project, which is west of Katy between the 1 million-square-foot distribution center Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) opened earlier this year and Igloo Products Corp.'s headquarters and distribution center.
Hines' most notable recent announcement, however, was the start of construction on the company's highly anticipated tower on the former Houston Chronicle site downtown. That 47-story, 1 million-square-foot tower is expected to be complete in late 2021.