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These Were The 6 Biggest Industrial Leases In Houston During Q1 2021

Houston’s industrial market continued to attract strong interest from e-commerce and third-party logistics users during the first quarter of 2021, buoyed by growing demand for online retail and last-mile delivery needs.

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In particular, deal sizes smaller than 100K SF and larger than 300K SF were very popular during Q1, according to Stream Realty Partners Senior Vice President Jeremy Lumbreras.

Lumbreras said that overall, the Houston industrial market appears to be very active, and Stream is tracking over 14M SF in tenant requirements searching for space in Houston.

“Large blocks of vacancy across the market are seeing a ton of activity, and if everything progresses, should lead to a healthy amount of positive net absorption this year,” Lumbreras said.

By large blocks of vacancy, Lumbreras said he was referring to existing buildings on the ground larger than 250K SF under one roof. Those larger buildings that happen to be vacant are seeing a substantial amount of interest.

CoStar Group Director of Market Analytics Justin Boyar said that according to available transaction data, Houston experienced strong industrial leasing and sales during the first quarter of 2021, carrying on the momentum gained in Q4 2020.

Houston saw a dip in transactions during the second and third quarters of 2020 before volumes rocketed back in the fourth quarter. The Houston market saw a return to large portfolio deals in Q4, absorbing 6.6M SF — the second-best quarter on record for industrial demand. Overall, Houston absorbed more than 14M SF during 2020, the fifth-best year on record, according to Boyar.

On the leasing side, Boyar noted that Amazon signed three new Houston-area leases during the first quarter of 2021, which accounted for about 685.8K SF, or 8.9% of all leasing activity in Houston during that period. That compares to an estimated 8.3M SF that the e-commerce giant leased across the U.S., or about 3.6% of all U.S. industrial leasing activity during Q1 2021.

Houston’s industrial leasing activity comes with a caveat: Despite the flurry of deals, vacancies increased significantly, rising from 5% in 2018 to 8.8% in Q1 2021.

“This was due to an unprecedented amount of speculative supply that delivered in 2020, outstripping such demand. Houston had the highest vacancy rate out of the top 30 U.S. markets as of year-end 2020. Nationally, average industrial vacancies were about 5%,” Boyar said.

Here are the six biggest industrial leases by square footage that took place in Houston during Q1 2021, according to CoStar research.

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Workers label packages inside an Amazon facility.

Fallbrook Pines Business Park

Tenant: Amazon

Landlord: Trammell Crow Co.

Address: 9155 Derrington Road

Submarket: Highway 290/Tomball Parkway

Size: 368.5K SF

Move-In: August 2021

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Boulevard Oaks Business Park

Tenant: 4PX Express USA Inc.

Landlord: TA Realty

Address: 5880 West Fuqua St.

Submarket: Southwest Far

Size: 347.7K SF

Move-In: May 2021

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Southwest Commerce Center

Tenant: Awesung

Landlord: Ridge Development

Address: 611 South Cravens Road

Submarket: Southwest Far

Size: 239.1K SF

Move-In: February 2021

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City Park East

Tenant: Vee Express

Landlord: CenterPoint Properties

Address: 8711 Citypark Loop

Submarket: Northeast Highway 90

Size: 218K SF

Move-In: April 2021

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4975 Gulf Freeway (Built-To-Suit)

Tenant: Amazon

Landlord/Developer: Duke Realty Partners

Address: 4975 Gulf Freeway

Submarket: South Highway 35 (La Marque)

Size: 180K SF

Move-In: December 2021

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Sugar Land Business Park

Tenant: Soft-Tex

Landlord: Johnson Development Associates

Address: 1407 Gillingham Lane

Submarket: Sugar Land

Size: 167K SF

Move-In: August 2021