Chicago developer buys land in Railhead for two-building project

In a joint venture, Chicago-based Ridge Development and LaSalle Investment Management said Tuesday that they plan to build two large industrial buildings in the Railhead Industrial Park in north Fort Worth.

The buildings will total 642,000 square feet and will sit on 47 acres the developers bought Monday from Zephyr Rail Industrial, a partnership of USAA Real Estate Co. in San Antonio. The buildings will be served by BNSF and Union Pacific rail lines.

Railhead is a 633-acre industrial park at Northeast Loop 820 and Blue Mound Road.

Construction will begin in the second quarter on the first building, a multitenant property totaling 299,000 square feet at the southeast corner of North Main Street and Industrial Road. It is slated to be completed by the end of the year, the developers said.

The second building, at 343,000 square feet, will be a build-to-suit project and begin when the first building is 50 percent pre-leased or a tenant is found, the developer said.

“The low vacancy levels in buildings under 300,000 square feet coupled with the limited availability of rail-served product in Dallas-Fort Worth are leading drivers for Ridge to commence its speculative development,” Rob Dye, vice president of Ridge Development, said in a statement.

Ridge Development is the industrial arm of Houston-based Transwestern Development Co. The company was established a year ago when Transwestern entered into a joint venture with Ridge Property Trust to expand its industrial development platform.

This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Chicago developer buys land in Railhead for two-building project."