Hillwood says it has created the largest speculative industrial pipeline in the firm’s history with the continued expansion of the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development.
Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood revealed April 13 more details about its two latest spec industrial buildings. The firm started construction in March on the 268,623-square foot Alliance Gateway 70 and the 501,235-square-foot Alliance Gateway 71, located near Independence Parkway and Henrietta Creek Road near State Highway 170.
Construction on Alliance Gateway 70 is expected to be completed in the third quarter, followed by Alliance Gateway 71 in the fourth quarter. Dallas-based Hillwood did not disclose a price tag but October filings with the state indicated an estimated investment of about $35 million between both buildings.
The buildings were designed by RGA Architects. Civil engineering was handled by Westwood and Hillwood Construction Services is the general contractor. Alliance 70 is financed by Enterprise Bank and Alliance Gateway 71 is financed by Comerica Bank.
The two buildings give Hillwood an industrial pipeline of 3.1 million square feet under construction and another 2.6 million square feet in the pre-development phase. That is the largest the spec industrial pipeline has ever been at Alliance, the huge industrial and mixed-use hub centered around the nation’s first industrial airport. Alliance has generated more than $142 billion in economic impact for the region since 1990 and supports tens of thousands of jobs, according to a third-party study.
Other speculative buildings under construction there include Alliance Westport 12, Alliance Westport 15 and Alliance Gateway 34. Jack Barkley, vice president of industrial leasing at Hillwood, said in a statement that the new buildings represent an acceleration of the company’s “most ambitious speculative construction effort yet.”
“These buildings will allow us to deliver move-in-ready Class A facilities with the power capacity and infrastructure resilience required by next-generation industrial users,” he said. “Demand from leading logistics and manufacturing companies remains exceptionally strong, driven by the unmatched multi-modal transportation capabilities of AllianceTexas and the continued growth of the AllianceTexas labor pool.”
Building on spec refers to starting construction without a tenant already signed, which is common in industrial real estate as developers try to keep up with demand.
The huge pipeline underscores Hillwood’s confidence in the allure of Alliance. In recent years, the company has filled spec buildings with a variety of tenants. That includes Georgia-based Southwire’s 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center and Taylor Sheridan’s production studios. Taiwan-based company Wistron plans to build a factory to assemble supercomputers in partnership with Nvidia inside Alliance Westport 14, which was completed last July.
The new buildings will be near the AllianceTexas Smart Port, Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport and BNSF Alliance Intermodal Facility. The area is also home to a FedEx Ground hub, two UPS Ground Sort hubs, the FedEx Express Southwest Regional Air hub and the Amazon Air Regional Hub.
Alliance Gateway 70 will feature 60-foot loading bays, electric vehicle chargers and a 185-foot truck court, according to Hillwood’s announcement. The building will have 68 trailer parking spaces and 270 car parking spaces along with 2,500 square feet of office space.
Alliance 71 will have 60-foot loading bays, 105 dock doors and four drive-in ramps. The building will have 149 trailer parking spaces and 294 parking spaces along with a 2,500-square-foot main office space.