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LAREDO, TX—Laredo does more trade with Mexico than any other city does with any other country, says Majestic Realty Co. In response to the strong bilateral trade environment and demand from a growing list of companies including a 200,000-square-foot lease and full occupancy of its initial building, Majestic is constructing a 423,280-square-foot building 2 at Port Grande Logistics Port set for completion in fourth quarter 2019.
“It’s the region’s largest speculative industrial building that we can confirm,” Kyle Valley, Majestic Realty Co. senior vice president, tells GlobeSt.com. “There is not as much space on the Laredo side of the border, and while it is not a secondary or tertiary market, it is very important. It surpassed $300 billion in trade last year. It is the third-largest US customs point of entry after the Port of New York. Interestingly enough, it is often not in the conversation although 96% of the trade in Laredo is just with Mexico.”
The Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach are the nation’s largest customs district with annual US-Mexico trade totaling $460 billion, GlobeSt.com learns. New York’s annual port trade total is $360 billion. Indeed, Laredo is highly dependent on the relationship between the two countries, Valley says.
“New business is placing bets on Laredo,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “This certainty is based on the new US-Mexico-Canada agreement, i.e., the new NAFTA.”
Located just east of Interstate 35 with access from Uniroyal and Carriers Drive, Port Grande is 10 miles from the Port of Laredo commercial border crossings where approximately 60% of all trade between US and Mexico occurs, according to company officials. In addition, Port Grande Logistics Port provides immediate access to Union Pacific Intermodal, and offers gated and secured buildings up to 2 million square feet, providing local, national and multi-national users the facilities required to support US Mexican trade flow at the nation’s number one inland port.
Earlier this month, Source Logistics, a logistics and supply chain provider to a wide range of retail and e-commerce companies, took occupancy of the 200,000 square feet of remaining space at the 366,000-square-foot building 1. Source Logistics was represented by Trace Elrod of Jackson Cooksey, and Majestic Realty Co. was represented by Carlo Molano of Forum Commercial. Terms of the long-term lease agreement were not disclosed. Combined with an initial lease of more than 166,000 square feet to an international automotive industry tenant, the two agreements represent what company officials believe to be the largest absorption of spec space along the US Mexico border.
“With no modern bulk class-A warehouse space available, we’re creating space opportunities for tenants that may have never been able to consider Laredo, Texas as an expansion location. We are doubling down on our bullish outlook for Laredo and the region,” said Valley. “With two distinguished tenants absorbing building 1, it’s affirmed that there is a need for quality product with building features that have not been delivered into the market before.”
Building 2, located at 1402 Carriers Dr., has already received a strong level of interest, according to Valley. The building will feature 32-foot ceiling clearance, 120 dock-high doors, four ground-level doors, a large secured truck courtyard, 242 trailer parking spaces and 208 automobile parking spaces.
GlobeSt.com learns that building 5 includes 75,000 square feet while building 6 is 95,000 square feet, where all space has been preleased.
Majestic Realty Co. completed the acquisition of the 2000-acre Port Grande land site from a subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz in 2015. Long-term plans call for Majestic to fully redevelop the site with modern warehouse distribution space to support the growing international flow of commerce between Mexico and the United States.
Majestic Realty is the largest privately held developer and owner of master-planned business parks in the United States, having developed approximately 100-million-square-feet of industrial properties.