HOUSTON, Texas — April 22, 2021 Welcome Group, LLC has turned the old adage to “go west young man” on its head by heading east to acquire two commercial properties in Georgia. These two acquisitions mark Houston-based Welcome Group’s first purchases outside the state of Texas. In recent weeks, the Welcome Group closed on the purchases of The Shaw-Almex facility in Decatur, GA. This is a single-tenant industrial/office building that was built in 1984 and expanded upon in 1996. The property totals approximately 135,000 square feet on nearly 15 acres. Welcome Group purchased the 100%-leased Shaw-Almex property for a price of $8,900,000 ($65.66/SF). The Torsion Group facility in Tucker, GA. This is a single-tenant industrial/office building totaling approximately 49,700 square feet on 3.5 acres. The building is an industrial/office masonry facility with concrete tilt-up perimeter panels that was built in 1989. The purchase price was $3,900,000 ($78.49/SF). The property has five+ years remaining on a ten-year lease to Torsion Group Corp. With these acquisitions, the Welcome Group now has more than 5.7 million square feet of industrial and office space within its commercial real estate portfolio. “These first two out-of-state acquisitions mark an important milestone for our company,” said Welcome Wilson, Jr., President, and CEO of Welcome Group. “We believe the greater Atlanta area offers tremendous potential for growth. We’re also excited about the opportunity to further our expansion across the Southeast and move ever closer to our goal of acquiring 6 million square feet of commercial space by the end of 2021.” Welcome Group made nine additional acquisitions in 2020, comprising approximately 840,000 square feet of industrial warehouse and office space. This included the purchase of 23 acres for future development within Cedar Port Industrial Park in Baytown, TX, one of the largest industrial business parks in the United States. In early 2020, Welcome Group purchased 14.89 acres of raw land to develop a 66,151 square foot facility for JDR Cable Systems’ new U.S. Headquarters in Tomball, TX. The global subsea cable supplier and servicer company’s new headquarters will bring additional jobs to the local area. This recently developed project has just been completed; the Grand Opening will be held at the new facility, May 7th, 2021. Welcome Group continues to seek additional acquisition and development opportunities across the Southeastern United States. Ted Kakambouras is the Acquisitions Director of Southeast Region and can be contacted at tkakambouras@welcomegroup.com. “We are continuing to expand our footprint across the U.S. and are always interested in attractive new acquisition opportunities,” said Welcome. Click to read more at www.welcomegroup.com.

At this time in 2020, it was hard to imagine that the industrial market could get much better. It was arguably already the strongest of the sectors when the pandemic hit. And while shutdowns had a devastating impact on other real estate markets, industrial only gained steam. “The Dallas industrial market is as hot as we have ever seen it,” says Josh Barnes, Senior Vice President of Holt Lunsford Commercial (HLC). “Tenant demand has continued to provide +/- 20M Square Feet of net absorption, which has allowed the development pipeline to remain strong.” The Metroplex was at or near the top of just about every nationwide industrial ranking a year ago thanks to its key position as a logistics hub. “Companies located here can access numerous markets in the United States, not to mention Texas itself. That’s 29 million people alone,” says Bill Baumgardner, Executive Vice President of VanTrust. “Dallas is the hub to all that.” The pandemic accelerated consumer buying habits, increasing e-commerce business and, in turn, the need for distribution sites. “All these consumer product companies are now focused heavily on what their e-commerce strategy is and how they get their goods to your home as quickly as possible,” Baumgardner says. “Couple that with the sustained population growth and job growth, that’s a great recipe for a solid industrial market,” adds Barnes.
Another side effect of the pandemic that has benefited the industrial sector: layoffs in other areas have helped remedy a long-standing labor shortage. “With traditional retail and hospitality taking their lumps during the pandemic, we’ve seen a migration of those workers into the industrial distribution sector,” says Baumgardner. Click to read more at www.rednews.com.

History has proven that the U.S. economy is amazingly resilient to horrific events such as those that occurred during the past year. According to ITR Economics, the recovery of the economy is progressing nicely — consumers are happy and businesses are buying capital equipment. However, there are concerns that excessive government stimulus spending will cause runaway inflation in the future. There were lots of winners and losers in the pandemic. Industrial benefitted the most with the dramatic increase in e-commerce. Costar reports that the industrial market is very tight with low vacancies and increasing rents.  Demand for distribution logistics space is at an all-time high. More and more warehouse space is needed closer to the consumer. The office market is struggling and may take years to recover as employees continue to work remotely until they have to return to work. Many Texas office buildings were already hurting with the struggling oil and gas market. Available office space is near record highs according to Costar. Click to read more at www.dmagazine.com.

For a state that has weathered its share of storms, Texas was unprepared for the record-setting deep freeze that hit in mid-February and the initially estimated $50 billion in damages. “According to Enki Research disaster modeler Chuck Watson, the severe weather event could cost as much as $90 billion, making this the largest insurance claim event in history,” said public insurance adjuster Scott Friedson, CEO of Insurance Claim Recovery Support (ICRS). REDnews connected with Friedson while he was making the trek to Houston, where he was slated to inspect more than 35 different properties that week. “There is no insurance risk model that accounts for a catastrophic loss to an entire state, especially the state of Texas,” he says. Hurricanes, Friedson explains, typically cause damage along the coast. Even a hail storm or tornado has limited exposure. The freeze, on the other hand,
stretched from the westernmost point of Texas to its easternmost point. “Many property owners are juggling pipe repairs, water damage mitigation, satiating tenant demands and dealing with their insurance claims simultaneously,” says Friedson, who exclusively represents commercial and multifamily owners, as well as management companies. “The carriers’ adjusters are coming as quickly as they can as policyholders are grappling with understanding their policy, as well as their contractual obligations in order to ensure a fair and prompt settlement.” Click to read more at www.rednews.com.

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy wants to build 10 electric plants in Texas, for use when demand peaks or other plants falter. And it’s the first time a price tag has been attached to a remedy since last month’s deadly storm. What would it cost to make the Texas electrical grid robust enough to weather a terrible winter storm? It would cost about $8.3 billion — if the state followed a proposal from the Oracle from Omaha, Warren Buffett. This year’s winter storm killed 111 people in Texas, the Department of State Health Services said Thursday. What’s being pitched by lobbyists for Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy might not be the only idea spawned by last month’s devastating statewide electrical outages, or even the best one. But it’s the first to price out the answer to a pressing question lawmakers are trying to solve in Austin: What would Texas have to do, and at what cost, to keep the lights and heat going if there’s another winter storm like the last one? The Nebraska cavalry has been working the Texas Legislature for a week and a half, according to The Texas Tribune’s Cassandra Pollock and Erin Douglas. The company’s proposal is for a Texas Emergency Power Reserve that would build 10 new natural gas-fueled power plants in the state. Those would be idle unless they were needed for times of peak demand — or when other electrical generation failed, as some did last month. It’s a slick presentation, complete with a poll and a slide deck that found Texans would pay $3 more every month to “significantly lower their risk of losing power during a winter storm.” As proposed, the new plants would be up and running by winter 2023. Click to read more at www.texastribune.org.