A partnership between BG Capital and FreezPak Logistics will break ground this month on a 282K SF, $102M cold storage facility in the eastern Houston suburb of Baytown.
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The partnership, BGFP International, bought the 30.7-acre tract at 7818 Fisher Road for $9M from TGS Cedar Port Partners. The land is in the Cedar Port Industrial Park, about 14 miles away from Port Houston.
The first phase of construction will include a 282K SF temperature-controlled warehouse that will be leased long-term by the New Jersey-based FreezPak, a full-service cold and dry storage company, according to a news release. It will have direct rail access to the facility’s cold dock.
The site can accommodate a second phase of construction that would increase the building size to 547K SF, the release says, making way for 141 trailer parking stalls, 64 truck stalls, three rail bays, 408K SF of freezer space and 110K SF of temperature-controlled cooler dock.
The building is designed for installation of an automated storage and retrieval system in a portion of the building and will also include areas for blast freezing, cross docking, transportation, repacking and overseas container plug-in.
FreezPak Logistics had seven facilities comprising 68 million cubic feet as of the end of 2022, according to its website, and is strategically building locations close to ports. This will be FreezPak’s farthest expansion into the Central U.S.; its other locations are in the Northeast, Chicago and Miami.
The Houston project is part of FreezPak’s effort to build a nationwide network of cold storage distribution centers, according to the news release. It will also be FreezPak’s largest facility to date.
The partnership also has projects planned for Philadelphia and Jacksonville, Florida, in 2023.
More traffic coming through Port Houston and an increase in the region’s manufacturing and distribution businesses are credited with substantially increasing Houston’s industrial inventory. About 7M SF of industrial projects were delivered to the market in Q1 2023.
Another 28.5M SF of industrial space is under construction throughout Houston, including a 725K SF resin packaging facility for Packwell Industries at Port Houston.
Marc Isdander of Colliers represented BG Capital and FreezPak Logistics in the land sale.
