Perot Prose

With just about 2M SF of warehouse space left at AllianceTexas, Hillwood Development chairman Ross Perot Jr. tells us that new warehouse designs are ready and construction can begin as soon as existing space fills. ?We build to demand,? he says.

Ross, whom we snapped at AllianceTexas during a media day event yesterday, says right now industrial companies are more likely to re-evaluate their needs and make do with an existing property rather than build new because of the high costs of construction. However, building is moving forward on Alliance?s multifamily and single-family projects (with residential guys even asking the industrial folks for some of their land, which we hear received a resounding "no"). On the flip side, in Southern California, industrial space is filled up and Hillwood has 2M SF of build-to-suit projects in the works there. Those folks will have to ?pay the price?, Ross says.

Hillwood prez Mike Berry tells us they have more than 1M SF underconstruction at AllianceTexas. Above, the new 700k SF Deloitte University campus (which we shot from the Hillwood helicopter Tuesday morning before the hail and thunderstorms roared through North Texas). Mike says Deloitte originally looked at 52 cities before settling on Circle T Ranch at Alliance. The $300M facility will open Q3 and be used as Deloitte?s training center; it includes an 800-room hotel, classroom and learning spaces, meeting and conference rooms, as well as dining and social venues like the party barn (silver roof on far right.)

And our DFW reporter Tonie Auer couldn't resist rubbing some elbows with Ross, who nicknamed her Little Momma after she took the time to straighten his tie before snapping photos. (She resisted the urge to spit in her hand to smooth down his hair). That's an airplane hanger they're standing in, and those floors are really that clean all the time, Mike tells us, even when it's filled with planes.