If one spice company builds space, it's a random occurrence. But two, at the same time? Now we can dub 2014 The Year of the Topping. (Or maybe just call this The Most Wonderful Thyme of the Year.) Duke Realty started on a 93k SF build-to-suit industrial building for two spice companies in the land-constrained Valwood submarket in Farmers Branch.

Duke Realty Texas Region SVP Jeff Thornton (here with his family at the North Texas Turkey Trot in Frisco on Thanksgiving) tells us the facility will be leased by Advanced Spice & Trading (a distributor of spices and seasonings for the food industry) and Valdez Corp (which specializes in private-label dry flavors and seasoning blends). Jeff tells us the 5.5-acre site at 13951 Senlac Dr is a perfect fit for a single user and the two related companies wanted to have their own facility, rather than be in a multi-tenant warehouse. Jeff tells us Advanced Spice and Valdez’s business has been growing and they began looking for a state-of-the-art facility more than a year ago that could accommodate their need for additional space and provide an image upgrade for their corporate HQ.

The companies wanted to stay close to their current facility in Valwood, but the lack of available single-tenant property in the area (and DFW industrial vacancy running at 6.9%, a historic low) forced them to also consider other submarkets, Jeff says, before selecting the Duke Realty site in Valwood. Advanced Spice will occupy 55k SF--Valdez the remaining 38k SF. Duke will own the land and act as developer and GC. Fults Commercial Real Estate’s Tracy Fults repped Advanced Spice and Valdez. Duke Realty was repped in-house by Randy Wood. Jeff tells us after racing in the chilly Thanksgiving day race, the family gorged on Cajun fried turkey and a big piece of apple pie a la mode.