News Article | 3/29/2006

Hillwood will build DeSoto industrial park

Developer Hillwood is starting work on a 113-acre industrial park on Interstate 35E in DeSoto.

The warehouse project is one of several new industrial developments kicking off south of Dallas.

“I think it’s due time, and it makes sense on a number of different levels and has for some years,” said Dan Tatsch, senior vice president of Hillwood Investment Properties, who sees demand increasing for industrial space in southern Dallas County.

“The question has always been how much do you build and how fast,” Mr. Tatsch said. “We are all going to find that out.”

Hillwood’s Crossroads Trade Center will be near the southwest corner of I-35E and Danieldale Road.

The developer would like to build three buildings with 1.85 million square feet. And after putting in the streets and utilities, Hillwood will decide later this year how much of that to build.

“We will assess the market and decide if it makes sense to carry on immediately with a speculative building,” Mr. Tatsch said. “I think you can make a sound argument for building in that area.”

Other developers think so, too.

Duke Realty Corp. recently announced plans for a 624,000-square-foot distribution center to be constructed in Hutchins. The building will be near Interstate 20 and Interstate 45, adjacent to Union Pacific Railroad’s new intermodal facility.

“The opening of the intermodal facility in late 2005 has generated a great deal of interest by tenants and companies wanting to locate near the UP facility,” Duke senior vice president Jeff Turner said in a statement.

Along with the big railyard, freeway access and availability of development sites in the I-20 corridor are pluses, developers say.

In the last decade, the bulk of industrial development in North Texas has occurred northwest of Dallas.