Hillwood, the multi-faceted real estate development firm with a reach that spans the Metroplex, had some big news this week.
The company is building an 800,000-square-foot build-to-suit facility for Dick’s Sporting Goods in south Fort Worth. It’s something of a departure for the company known for AllianceTexas in northern Fort Worth. Hillwood Development Co. LLC has created one of the nation’s premier logistics hubs with the 27,000-acre Alliance, which has an estimated economic impact on North Texas of around $10 billion per year.
Reid Goetz, senior vice president for industrial at Hillwood, said it’s a natural progression for the company that’s developed and acquired 31 million square feet of industrial, 3.2 million square feet of retail and office, and more than 4,000 multifamily units. He spoke with Dallas Business about the recent deal and what else is in the works. The conversation has been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
Tell me more about this industrial park where Dick’s Sporting Goods is going. Can you give me some context on the park and some of the other tenants there?
Goetz: Most of what we have done in Fort Worth is within the AllianceTexas corridor and with AllianceTexas. But we do have land holdings throughout the west side of DFW. And we’re actively looking at growing our land position just because of the growth of Fort Worth and Tarrant County. But this one, specifically, is over a 280-acre development site that we owned for quite some time, and much like Alliance, had good growth in the region, good workforce right on I-35. So we went in and rezoned and master-planned what we call Risinger/35 Logistics Park to extend the success that we’d had in Alliance down in the south Fort Worth marketplace. We kicked off the project with a build-to-suit on the frontage for a leading e-commerce company.
We had maintained two sites for really big box bulk users, whether it was distribution, fulfillment, manufacturing, but positioning those sites to be able to accommodate some of the world’s largest companies that want to extend next-generation facilities into south Fort Worth. And that’s exactly what happened here with Dick’s Sporting Goods on about 89 acres.
What’s unique about this distribution center being built for Dick’s Sporting Goods?
Goetz: It’s over 800,000 square feet, and represents kind of the newest and modern specs that companies are really rebuilding or expanding their supply chains with. This will serve Texas and over 100 stores in the region, and it’s all about being able to be efficient in their supply chain and distribution channels at the lowest cost. All of that goes into the most modern technologies and systems that they’ll be installing within the facilities themselves. So this is right in line with some of the most modern logistics facilities in the region. I think it’s a testament to not only the growth of Texas, but really North Texas specifically and the way that Dick’s Sporting Goods has really been growing in this marketplace.
You mentioned saving money. Does that go to some of the company’s points about sustainability efforts?
Goetz: There are some elements that they will incorporate into the facility, but those are things that they’ve kind of discussed within the specific facility.
When it comes to build-to-suit, what do companies want?
Goetz: It really starts with the site and then the team with which to execute it. And one of the things that we’ve been able to do with the Hillwood team is getting sites that have the best logistics. This is essentially right on I-35 in the middle of Fort Worth’s growing population. When they come into a market like DFW, they do an exhaustive search and they looked everywhere. Really, it was a very competitive process. They’re looking to deliver a facility and open in 2026 and so there’s a lot that rides on execution of not only all the predevelopment work, but the construction itself, and having the team that’s capable of doing that.
The Hillwood team was able to win their trust and execute on that, based on what we’ve been able to do for our entire 35-year company history. That comes back to our founder and Chairman Ross Perot Jr., and how we focus on the customer, and how [we can] make sure to build their trust and execute on projects that bring fantastic companies to Fort Worth.
The industrial market has slowed a bit but Hillwood is planning pretty significant speculative space in Alliance with Alliance Westport 14. What’s your perspective on the market right now?
Goetz: We’ve got a very good pulse on the market. And that gets to really listening to our customers and trying to understand as best we can what drives their business, both within the four walls, but really outside of the four walls.
We’re in a market with Alliance and Fort Worth that is really, if you stack up the wins that you have here, whether it’s Southwire or McMaster-Carr and now Dick’s Sporting Goods … I think you can make the case that Alliance in Fort Worth is one of the preeminent big box activity markets in the entire country.
Because what we’re seeing in terms of solid and diverse corporate growth that are coming into this marketplace, there’s even deals that have been done that haven’t been announced yet that I think will show that. We see the fact that it’s a growing population … it’s a low-cost environment for companies to operate. So low taxes, low regulation. We’re responding to that. And we’re vertically integrated and set up to be able to push forward when the market may be paying and that’s exactly what we’re doing with Westport 14.
We’ll be able to announce here shortly another building that we’ll introduce to the market here.
Where might we see the next big Hillwood industrial development?
Goetz: It’ll be in Alliance, for sure. More to come there, but it’ll absolutely be in Alliance.