Ridge Development will develop nearly 56 acres of Port of Houston Authority land near the Bayport Container Terminal at 12619 Port Rd in Pasadena. Ridge plans to construct a build-to-suit facility on 38.38 acres and has proposed two options: a 450k SF cross-dock building or a 450k SF rail-served facility. Both scenarios include 199 trailer storage spaces.

Ridge SVP Ben Newell tells Bisnow that for the build-to-suit, Ridge is targeting tenants that move a high volume of goods through the Port of Houston, such as consumer products distributors and plastic resin packages. The plans have rallied significant interest from potential tenants, which Ben attributes largely to the rail-served scenario and the ability to store 280 railcars on-site. Both the cross-dock and rail-served scenario can store 199 trailers on-site, a rather unique feature.

The building is designed to accommodate two tenants, but Ben tells us he anticipates one company taking down the whole thing before they break ground. Even though Houston's typically a smaller-lease industrial market, Ben says the only question Ridge has received is if they can make the building larger than 450k SF.

Ridge also will oversee development of a 300k SF cold storage facility for AGRO Merchants Group on 17.5 acres. AGRO, which specializes in third-party cold storage, warehousing and value-added services, retained Ridge to oversee site due diligence and provide development consulting services for its new facility.

Ridge is building in Houston's hottest area. As of today, the East-Southeast Far submarket has 2M SF under construction and 6.6M SF proposed.