DeSoto ‘spects industrial project for 30 acres

DeSOTO – Developers who just purchased about 30 acres near I-20 are eager to start construction on a new industrial park.

Ridgeline Property Group and Stockbridge Capital Group bought the site in DeSoto on I-35E and plan to break ground next month on a speculative warehouse.

“The pace of construction activity in south Dallas has picked up significantly, and many speculative projects have enjoyed successful pre-leasing efforts,” said Ridgeline CEO Greg Thurman.

Ridgeline Property will build 453,600 sf in its new Eagle Park 20/35 project, the latest in a series of big industrial buildings coming along I-20 and I-45 in southern Dallas County.

With recent leases in the area, more warehouses are going to be needed.

During the last few months, major businesses have leased millions of sf of warehouse space along I-20 in southern Dallas County.

All of these big warehouse deals landed in speculative buildings — projects started by developers who didn’t have a tenant lined up first.

At the start of the year, the large volume of speculative industrial construction in the I-20 corridor looked like a gamble. But now, not so much.

“Those guys are looking real smart right now on I-20,” said Tom Pearson, executive vice president of commercial real estate firm Colliers International. “It’s a testimony to the fact that that corridor is where the developers perceived the demand to be.”