Stream Realty Partners (Stream), a national real estate services, development, and investment company, announced the execution of a 353,600-square-foot lease on behalf of Principal Real Estate Investors at Bay Area Business Park located at 9431 Bay Area Boulevard. The tenant, Custom Goods, will occupy the entirety of the building, which is part of the 3.3 million-square-foot, 232-acre master-planned development in Houston’s Southeast/Port submarket. Owned by Principal Real Estate Investors, Bay Area Business Park is one of the largest, single-owner business parks in the area.

Part of Foreign Trade Zone #84, Bay Area Business Park is strategically located near the Bayport and Barbour’s Cut container terminals, which is an ideal spot for importers and exporters of containerized goods. In addition, the site is on the “infill” side of the market, which creates lower costs and expedited drayage to and from Port Houston container terminals.

Justin Robinson, Managing Director and Partner at Stream, said, “The Southeast submarket is tightening dramatically from an overall availability standpoint. In the last two weeks alone, over 1.3 million square feet of new leases have been signed-in the submarket. All three leases are new to the Houston market and illustrate the massive uptick in leasing activity we are experiencing across the city. With development becoming increasingly difficult near Port Houston, Bay Area’s location-based logistical advantages continue to set it apart.”

Per Stream’s market research, vacancy rates are quickly decreasing in the Southeast submarket due to a lack of new development and a substantial uptick in leasing velocity. Robinson expands, “Although it’s not reflected in the stats yet, it’s a phenomenon we are seeing across the city, not just in the Southeast.”

He continues, “Development on the infill side of this submarket [south of the Houston ship channel] has become increasingly difficult due to the lack of obvious, developable sites and more stringent flood plain legislation that disproportionately impacts this area given its near sea level elevation. Our belief is the infill side of the market will see a substantial rent growth over the next few years for these reasons.”

Stream’s Robinson and Woody Hillyer, Associate, represented Principal Real Estate Investors in the transaction and Barry Hill and Doug Nicholson with Newmark represented Custom Goods.