Stream Realty Partners announced the expansion and relocation of Tigerhawk Logistics, a Houston-based logistics company within Portside Logistics Center, an industrial development in the highly sought-after Southeast Houston industrial submarket.

Tigerhawk Logistics has substantially expanded its presence within the logistics center, more than doubling its space from 135,285 square feet in Building 2 to an impressive 328,048 square feet in Building 1. This strategic expansion underscores Tigerhawk Logistics’ steadfast commitment to continuous growth and operational excellence.

As part of the expansion, Stream’s Construction Management team is actively building out a custom designed office space, amongst other improvements, for Tigerhawk Logistics within Building 1, further enhancing the tenant experience.

Portside Logistics Center, a Joint-Venture development between Principal Asset Management and Stream Realty Partners, is located at 4838 and 4908 Borusan Road in Baytown, Texas. The premier industrial development boasts over 1 million square feet and offers immediate access to Grand Parkway (State Highway 99), Interstate 10, Highway 225, and Highway 146, allowing expedited access to Port Houston’s two container terminals – Barbour’s Cut and Bayport. 

Portside Logistics Center offers multiple configurations and size ranges from 432,316 square feet in a cross-dock configuration (divisible to 216,158 square feet) and a 258,248-square-foot front-load building (divisible to 122,963 square feet). Both buildings were developed to the highest standards, featuring speculative office space, LED warehouse lights (two per bay), a white-boxed interior warehouse, painted columns, caulked control joints, and fully fenced and secured truck courts. The project is seeking LEED certification.

Stream Managing Director Tyler Maner and Executive Vice President Jeremy Lumbreras serve as the leasing agents for the project and helped complete the deal. Robinson heads up the development management alongside Tyler Wellborn, Craig McKenna, Matthew Sibley and Kristina Gibson. Tigerhawk was represented in lease negotiations by Grant Hortenstine and Pearce Martens with CBRE in Houston.

Building 1 has 432,316 square feet available for immediate occupancy. Building 2 is available (258,248 square feet) and divisible to 122,963 square feet. For more information, contact Stream Houston at 713.300.0300.

Why is the U.S. industrial vacancy rate rising? Research from Colliers suggests a simple reason: The number of new industrial facilities delivered by developers continues to outpace the demand from tenants for new warehouse and manufacturing space.

That’s the takeaway from Colliers’ first-quarter national U.S. industrial report released last month. But there is good news in the report, too. Colliers says that the vacancy increases should stop as new industrial construction slows, something that is already happening.

In its report, Colliers said that industrial construction completions outstripped tenant demand for the seventh quarter in a row in the first quarter of this year. That pushed the U.S. average industrial vacancy rate up 50 basis points to 6.1% during the quarter, the highest that figure has been since early 2015.

Industrial vacancy rates increased in 61 of the 77 markets tracked by Colliers between January and March.

In another sign that the industrial market is slowing, Colliers reported that net industrial absorption during the first quarter came in at only 28 million square feet. That’s the lowest this figure has been in more than a decade and is 65% lower than the 81 million square feet absorbed in the first quarter of 2023.

Developers delivered more than 120 million square feet of new industrial space during the first quarter. That is down from more than 154 million square feet in the fourth quarter of 2023 and 140 million square feet in the first quarter of 2023.

The more interesting number, though, is the amount of industrial space under construction. Colliers said that developers had more than 384 million square feet of new industrial properties under construction in the first quarter. That’s a large number, but it’s lower than the more than 447 million square feet under construction in the fourth quarter of last year and significantly less than the 690 million square feet being built in the first quarter of 2023.

Those construction numbers are a sign that developers are pulling back in the amount of new industrial space that they are adding across the country. As new industrial construction slows, tenants might struggle to find the space they need. That should increase demand and result in vacancy rates in this sector dropping again.

JCB on June 4 began work on a $500 million factory in San Antonio, Texas, the biggest investment in the company’s history.

An official groundbreaking ceremony at the site marked the beginning of construction, where The Hon. Alice Bamford, the daughter of company Chairman Anthony Bamford, turned the first shovelful of dirt on the property.

Work on the 720,000 sq. ft. (67,000m²) factory is now under way on the 400-acre site. It will be the company’s second largest plant, rivalled only by JCB’s world headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire, England, and create 1,500 new jobs over five years.

The factory will make Loadall telescopic handlers and aerial access equipment, with production scheduled to start in 2026. The factory will also have the capacity to expand and build other products in the future.

Chairman Lord Bamford said: “Construction equipment manufacturers sell more than 300,000 machines every year in North America, making it the single largest market in the world. JCB has been growing its share of this important market steadily over the past few years and the time is now right to invest in our manufacturing capacity in North America, where we already have one factory.”

“JCB really has come a considerable way since we sold our first machine here 60 years ago and it gives me immense pleasure to see how our business has grown in North America. Today really is a milestone day in the history of our family company,” Bamford says.

In good news for the commercial real estate market, 80% of U.S.-based CRE professionals said in a recent survey that they expect to buy or sell property within the next six months.

That would be a boon to the commercial real estate industry, which is still waiting for owners and investors to begin buying and selling industrial facilities, office buildings and retail centers in higher numbers once again.

The positive news came from Altus Group‘s second quarter 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey released on June 12. The quarterly survey contains feedback from 560 commercial real estate professionals representing more than 97 firms in the United States and Canada. Altus Group surveyed these professionals from March 25 to April 29.

One of the bigger takeaways from this report is the willingness among respondents to make real estate deals. Commercial real estate sales have been slow since the Federal Reserve Board first began tweaking its benchmark interest rate. Now that the Fed has said it will no longer increase this rate, the hope is that investors and owners will begin selling and buying commercial real estate in larger numbers.

With 80% of U.S. survey respondents saying that they do plan to buy or sell in the next six months, it does look like the Fed’s decision to no longer increase its benchmark rate will spur more sales activity in the commercial real estate sector.

The survey found, too, that 91% of the largest firms said that they intend to transact during the next six months. That is up from 83% in the first quarter of 2024.

And what asset classes will investors buy? Four the fourth consecutive quarter, respondents told Altus Group that industrial and multifamily properties are expected to be the best performers during the next 12 months. U.S. respondents also said that retail is expected to be attractive, too.

Not surprisingly, respondents cited office as the expected worst performer during the next 12 months.

This willingness to make deals doesn’t mean that U.S. commercial real estate professionals aren’t worried about the country’s economy. The number of U.S. respondents who told Altus Group that a recession is “very likely” or “somewhat likely” in the next six months increased by 7 percentage points from the previous quarter.

This means that the majority of respondents — 70% — say that a recession is either “somewhat likely” or “somewhat unlikely” in the next six months. This indicates plenty of uncertainty.

In other results from Altus’ study, 49% of respondents said that they expect interest rates to remain stable during the next 12 months. Surprisingly, 25% of respondents said that they expected interest rates to rise during the next 12 months. That is up 16 percentage points when compared to the first quarter of this year.

Altus Group reported that 26% of respondents expected interest rates to fall by 20 percentage points in the next year.

More than a third of respondents — 37% — said that they expected increased availability of capital in the next year, a jump of nine percentage points from the last quarter. However, 40% of respondents said that they expected the cost of capital to increase in the next 12 months. That figure is up 12 percentage points from the first quarter of 2024.

And when it comes to revenue growth? Respondents to Altus Group’s survey were generally optimistic.

A total of 62% of survey participants said that they expected revenue growth to be stable during the next 12 months, while 19% expect revenue growth to increase. That latest figure represents a modest increase of two percentage points from the first quarter of the year.

Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors facilitated the acquisition of two single-tenant net-leased properties occupied by Brakes Plus in North Richland Hills and Killeen, Texas, in separate transactions.

Hanley Investment Group’s Vice President Garrett Wood represented the buyer, a Florida-based private 1031 exchange investor.

The first Brakes Plus-occupied property is located at 8612 Precinct Line Road in North Richland Hills, part of the Fort Worth-Dallas metro area, near the signalized intersection of Davis Boulevard and Precinct Line Road (with 44,500 vehicles per day).

Built in 2022, the 4,956-square-foot Brakes Plus sits on a 1.02-acre parcel adjacent to Super Target and a Walmart Supercenter, with over 18 years remaining on the absolute triple-net lease, which has a corporate guarantee by Mavis Tire Express Services Corp. Other national tenants within a mile of the property include Kroger, Walgreens, Aldi, Starbucks, McDonald’s Chick-fil-A, Dutch Bros and Bank of America. The seller, a Colorado-based private investor, was represented by Marcus & Millichap’s Drew Isaac, Brian Bailey and Tim Speck.

The second Brakes Plus-occupied property is situated in Central Texas at 3301 West Stan Schlueter Loop in Killeen, which sees nearly 30,000 vehicles per day. Killeen is home to Fort Hood, now known as Fort Cavazos, one of the largest military installations in the world.

Built in 2023 on a 1.04-acre parcel, the 4,900-square-foot Brakes Plus has nearly 15 years remaining on its new absolute triple-net lease, which has a corporate guarantee by Mavis Tire Express Services Corp. The property is located near Walmart, HEB grocery store, Dollar General and Arby’s. Recently constructed sites nearby include Mister Car Wash, CVS, Popshelf, Starbucks, Sherwin-Williams and Taco Casa.

The seller, a Los Angeles-based private investor, was represented by Sands Investment Group’s Matt Montagne, Maxwell Watson and Tyler Ellinger.

JLL Capital Markets arranged the sale of Sage Spring Senior Living, a senior living community in San Marcos, Texas.

JLL represented the seller, a joint venture between Bow River Capital and Investcor, and procured the buyer, Inspired Healthcare Capital.

Sage Spring Senior Living is located in San Marcos, midway between San Antonio and Austin. The 90-unit assisted living and memory care community opened in December 2020 and was stabilized at time of sale.

The JLL Capital Markets Investment Sales and Advisory team was led by Senior Managing Directors Jay Wagner, Rick Swartz and Aaron Rosenzweig and Director Dan Baker.