Concerned about the amount of business opportunities available today? Perhaps you haven’t looked to Texas!

It’s truly amazing the level of activity that has happened recently and there are some really exciting projects we’ll see later this year. I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion at the NTCAR 2013 Annual Broker Forecast breakfast earlier this spring at the Frontier of Flight Museum. My part of the discussion was industrial. I created a list of deals that had been completed in 2012, and a list of projects which we expect to see started in 2013.

Some as noted below, have already begun, some are still on the drawing board, but all have the potential to be kicked off this year. All of this bodes well for companies looking to locate in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where there are lots of great options.

Build to Suits

Quaker/Pepsico 1,200,000 SF ProLogis Park 20/35 Lancaster (600 trailer parks, 100 doors, expandable to 1.6 million

BMW  260,000 (not done yet)

Ace Hardware by Centerpointe Properties of Chicago 460,000

Amazon by Hillwood (2) million footers, Coppell & Fort Worth

L’Oreal by Ridge 513,000 in South Dallas

Restoration Hardware by Weeks Robinson 858,000 in Grand Prairie

Prime Distribution by ProLogis 400,000 SF Mesquite

Eltek by Argent 107,000 SF in Plano

Winzer by Weeks Robinson 100,000 east Plano

Kohl by Hillwood in Desoto about 951,000

New Developments

Billingsley purchased 225 acres in Mercer Crossing 90% industrial to be built

Billingsley 300,000 SF at Belt Line & Hwy 161

IDI 529K on Valley Parkway in Lewisville, construction underway

Seefried Southfield Park 35 with USAA buildings up to 1.5 million, planned

Hillwood 1,000,000 in DeSoto going to start very soon

Hillwood Alliance will start a 775,000 in February expandable to 3 million (Also have sold 80 acres in Alliance with another 100 acres under contract for other development projects)

ProLogis 653,000 expandable to 1 million under construction

First Industrial 273K in Pinnacle Park, planned for later 2013

Ridge Realty 500,000 SF spec next to L’Oreal, to be built simultaneously

Oakmont 462K & 292K Flower Mound

Trammell Crow/Clarion/Rosewood 202,500, 500,000, 297,500, North end of DFW Airport, construction has begun

Exeter plans 800,000 spec on land they just bought from IDI in south Arlington

Rob Huthnance, IIT, has started construction on a 300,000 spec at Amberpoint in Coppell

Duke has a site ready for 850,000 S Dallas @ I-35 and north of DFW Airport Lakeside Ranch 660,000

Majestic has a site they can build another 1 million next to Kellogg in Lewisville

Significant Recent Leases

IDI leased in Mesquite to Masonite 232,800

Weeks Robinson in Langdon project leased to Conn’s 320,000

Wal-Mart  leased 788,000 from Hillwood in Alliance

Significant Recent Industrial Sales

Greenville sale 1 million from Rubbermaid to Fritz

GE bot IDI’s 679,000 and expanded to 923,000 at Speedway Distribution Center

Trader Joes purchased from Panattoni their 728,520 in Irving

The City of Dallas economic development director tells me they’ve seen three deals recently each over a million square feet. Of course it remains to be seen which of those will land in the DFW area.

A few questions below: I would love to hear what's going on in your market! Let me know!

• How does this compare with the activity you’re seeing in your market?
• Are build-to-suits going to continue rather than spec construction and does the increased size of these deals have an impact?
• As we are now at an 8 percent vacancy in the DFW market, why isn’t there more spec construction as there has been in the past when vacancy got to 8 percent?