AmeriPort in Metro Houston Lands New Tenant

703 Logistics Drive South. Image courtesy of Colliers International

A&R Logistics has leased 133,333 square feet of distribution warehouse space at 703 Logistics Drive South in the AmeriPort Industrial Park in Baytown, Texas. Colliers International represented both parties in the transaction.

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AmeriPort Industrial Park is a 1,000-acre-plus, rail-served, master-planned industrial park encompassing more than 4 million square feet of buildings and 55 miles of railroad trackage, enough to stage more than 3,000 railcars. The park is served by both the BNSF and Union Pacific railroads.

The tenant was represented by Charles Fertitta Jr., principal & director of Colliers International. AmeriPort’s developer, National Property Holdings, was represented by Robert Alinger of Colliers International. Colliers did not respond to Commercial Property Executive’s request for additional information.

Sam Diaz, A&R’s president of export and domestic warehousing, described the company as the leading supply chain services provider for the chemical industry, with deep expertise in export resin packaging. A&R’s expansion in Baytown, he added, is in addition to opening two new facilities: One in Charleston, S.C., and the other in Savannah, Ga., in September and December, respectively.

Last November, a 12-year commitment from A&R Logistics to take 610,000 square feet at the 2,700-acre Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near the Port of Savannah, Ga., led to ground being broken by developer OmniTrax on the park’s first building. A&R also secured an expansion option to occupy the remaining space in the 1 million-square-foot building.

Best of the bunch

Besides AmeriPort, National Property Holdings’ other projects in the Houston metro include SouthPoint Business Park Phase 2 (47 acres) and Republic Business Center (160 acres).

With its historically low average vacancy and ongoing e-commerce demand, the industrial sector is the most stable commercial real estate product type in metro Houston, according to a first-quarter report from Avison Young. Warehouse/distribution space in the Southeast submarket totals about 76.9 million square feet, with an average total vacancy of 8.7 percent. Net absorption in the submarket in the first quarter totaled 0.8 percent of the overall inventory. The average asking rent (direct, triple net) is $7.53. About 4.4 million square feet of space is under construction, also according to Avison Young.