A North Texas developer is getting started on more than 1.1 million square feet of speculative industrial space after landing two big deals for other properties, in a “critical” move to keep in front of tenant demand, an executive at the firm said.
Hillwood, a real estate development firm founded by Ross Perot Jr., is beginning construction in September on two Class A speculative industrial buildings. The Fort Worth buildings are Alliance Westport 15, a 798,494-square-foot property at 1401 Intermodal Parkway, and Alliance Gateway 34, a 310,036-square-foot building at 5000 Westport Parkway.
“This is part of our long-term strategy that we have at AllianceTexas to have a building in various size ranges built or under development at all times,” Sam Rhea, vice president of industrial leasing at Hillwood, told CoStar News, adding that the real estate firm has decided to begin construction anew after leasing its other speculative projects.
“Having these buildings ready to go was critical to us landing these deals,” Rhea said, referencing deals tied to Taylor Sheridan’s SGS Studios and Wistron’s chip manufacturing facility for Nvidia. Hillwood oversees the build-out of the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas master-planned development.
“Wistron couldn’t wait for a true build-to-suit facility,” he added. “We were finishing at a time when they needed it and it’s the perfect fit for them. Same with SGS Studios — there is so much going on in the Paramount-Sheridan world and they don’t have the time to capital plan and think through how these buildings will be built. They needed the buildings, and we had them ready to go on the ground, which was key to winning the business.”
Hillwood’s decision to build its next wave of speculative industrial facilities comes as Rhea said he’s seen an increasing interest for industrial space coming from manufacturers looking at the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
“I think 2025 will be the year of manufacturing in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and, specifically, Alliance,” he added. “In Alliance, we have access to land that can house large power deals like Wistron with access to great infrastructure and workforce.”
Manufacturers need plenty of power to automate their manufacturing and distribution efforts in their spaces, he said, adding Hillwood is working with utility companies in the region to access more power.
This part of North Texas, known as the Alliance submarket, is the region’s largest submarket for industrial space by inventory, with 90.2 million square feet of real estate, said CoStar Director of Market Analytics Cody Gibbs, who tracks this sector.
“Alliance took the title from East DFW Airport/Las Colinas at the end of 2021 and has held firm ever since,” Gibbs said. “Southeast Dallas/I-45 is right behind them, but with very little appetite to build new industrial space in this submarket, it is likely that the gap between the two will continue to increase in the coming years.”
The hesitancy surrounding construction is tied to market fundamentals, Gibbs said, noting that the vacancy rates in Southeast Dallas/I-45 at 15.5% are nearly double the 8.8% vacancy rate in the Alliance area.
Construction on Alliance Gateway 34 is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2026. The larger building, Alliance Westport 15, is scheduled for completion in the third quarter.
Hillwood’s two new speculative industrial projects are expected to have access to major freeway corridors, the Perot Field industrial airport and the BNSF Railway’s Alliance Intermodal facility. In looking at leasing opportunities, Rhea said, “We see a lot of demand across the board, and we are poised to capture a lot of it moving forward.”
For the record
GSR Andrade Architects designed the buildings. Westwood Professional Services provided the civil engineering design. Hillwood Construction Services is the general contractor. Frost Bank is financing Alliance Westport 15, and b1Bank is financing Alliance Gateway 34.