Related Pursues Incentives for $65M Cold Storage Development

A subsidiary of Related Companies is pursuing a $65 million cold-storage warehouse south of Austin.

Related Fund Management is seeking economic incentives from the Lockhart Economic Development Corporation and Caldwell County, the Austin Business Journal reported. New York-based Related is one of the nation’s most prolific developers and is known for projects such as Hudson Yards in Midtown Manhattan.

The subsidiary wants to build 300,000 square feet of cold storage on a 53-acre tract in Lockhart. The exact location hasn’t been reported.

The county is considering giving the company tax rebates for five years, starting with 85 percent in the first year and gradually decreasing to 25 percent in the fifth year. In exchange, the facility must provide at least 100 full time jobs for five years. The workers will have “an average annual wage of $38,480,” according to the Lockhart Economic Development Corporation.

The Lockhart Economic Development Corporation is considering $1 million in utility reimbursements over 10 years.

Development plans call for an “energy-efficient public refrigerated warehouse to support the Austin-San Antonio corridor, as well as the greater Central Texas market, with a focus on the rapidly growing subsector of direct-to-consumer grocery deliveries,” according to county documents.

The cold storage warehouses will take up about half of the acreage, and “dry” industrial warehouses spanning 878,000 square feet could be built on the other half, according to economic development corporation documents.

Here’s what else is buzzing in Texas industrial real estate this week:

A manufacturer of solar panels has leased 225,000 square feet northwest of Houston from Welcome Group, with plans to build out a manufacturing facility. Elin, a Turkish company, will spend about $35 million to build out its space at 2270 Twinwood Parkway in Brookshire, the Houston Business Journal reported. Waller County is providing economic incentives to Elin, which was invited here by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the outlet said. Details of the incentives agreement were not reported.

A technology company that serves the aerospace, defense and transportation industries is considering building a $4 million, 20,000-square-foot production facility east of Austin. Pennsylvania-based Acutronic USA could receive $1 million in economic incentives from Bastrop County, the Austin Business Journal reported. The facility would be built on 10 acres in the Bastrop Business Park, at 1709 South Street.

CAPSTAR Real Estate has purchased the Connection Park Logistics Center in San Antonio from Triten Real Estate Partners. JLL Capital Markets arranged the sale, joint-venture equity and financing of the 490,000-square-foot distribution center that sits on 42 acres at 6851 Cal Turner Drive. JLL arranged an equity partnership between CAPSTAR and an unnamed investor and secured a floating-rate, interest-only loan from Prime Finance.