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The Allen Group Kicks Off the Dallas Logistics Hub withGrand Opening Event

April 15, 2007

DALLAS — The Allen Group, a major developer of commercial properties across the United States, hosted a grand opening ceremony for its Dallas Logistics Hub on Friday, April 13, 2007, at the Lancaster Municipal Airport, located in Lancaster, Texas. More than 1,000 international, federal, state and local dignitaries, community and business leaders were in attendance for the Texas-style celebration. The event included guided helicopter tours of the logistics park, highlighting the advantages of what is some of the most extensive rail and highway infrastructure in the country.

The Dallas Logistics Hub (“The Hub”) is the largest new logistics park under development in North America, with over 6,000 acres master-planned for the development of 60 million square feet of distribution, manufacturing, office and retail uses.

Given its unmatched intermodal rail and highway access, The Hub positions Dallas as the premier trade hub in the Southwestern United States and will serve as the primary gateway for the distribution of goods to the major population centers throughout the Central and Eastern United States.

During the event, The Allen Group announced development plans for two industrial buildings to begin vertical development of the project. Totaling 640,000 and 210,000 square feet, respectively, construction of the two new spec buildings will commence in June and be completed by year-end 2007. The Hub master plan will include warehouse and distribution facilities, light manufacturing, and retail support services, business-class hotels, restaurants, as well as single- and multi-family housing.

“We are extremely proud to announce the opening of the Dallas Logistics Hub today,” said Richard Allen, Chief Executive Officer of The Allen Group. “The Hub will be a significant factor in the international flow of Asian goods from the U.S. and Mexican ports and into the population centers of the Midwest and east coast of the United States.”

Slated to become one of the biggest economic engines for Northern Texas, the Dallas Logistics Hub is projected to create 31,000 new direct jobs plus 32,000 new indirect jobs. The Hub is also expected to increase the tax base for the municipalities of Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer and Hutchins by $2.4 billion. The economic impact of facility construction and employment for operation within The Hub from 2006 through 2035 is projected to be $68.85 billion.

“Texas has led the nation for the past five years in export revenues, totaling more than $150 billion in revenues last year alone,” said Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, who was in attendance. “The new Dallas Logistics Hub opens this region up for even greater opportunities and helps us further solidify and expand our presence throughout the global economy.”

Also among the list of distinguished speakers were Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration Julie Nelson, U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey, Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, Lancaster Mayor Joe Tillotson, Hutchins Mayor Artis Johnson, Wilmer Mayor Don Hudson, President of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce Jan Hart Black, as well as Richard Allen, CEO of The Allen Group and Edward Romanov, President and COO of The Allen Group.

“As the U.S. continues strong trading partnerships with China and Pacific Rim countries, the Dallas Logistics Hub will become a key component of how goods are distributed throughout our hemisphere,” said U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.

“The Hub’s central location and proximity to major trade routes through Mexico and the Midwestern and Eastern United States strategically position Dallas to thrive and take advantage of the international shifting of trade patterns.”

The Allen Group’s Dallas Logistics Hub is adjacent to Union Pacific’s Southern Dallas Intermodal Terminal, a potential BNSF intermodal facility, four major highway connectors (I-20, I-45, I-35 and the future Loop 9/Trans-Texas Corridor) and Lancaster Airport, which is in the master-planning stage to facilitate air-cargo distribution. The Dallas Logistics Hub is a key component of the NAFTA infrastructure and will serve as a major “inland port” bringing products for regional and national distribution from the Ports of L.A./Long Beach, Houston, and the new deep-water ports in western Mexico.

For more information on the Dallas Logistics Hub, please log on to www.dallashub.com.

The Allen Group

The Allen Group is a commercial development firm specializing in rail-served industrial parks and build-to-suit facilities, including Class A office buildings.

The Company currently has 8,000 acres under development across the United States, with commercial properties ranging in size from 35,000 square feet to 1.7 million square feet, as well as four master-planned industrial parks. These projects include the International Trade and Transportation Center (www.ittc.com); MidState99 Distribution Center (www.midstate99.com); the Dallas Logistics Hub (www.dallashub.com), and recently announced, the Kansas City Logistics Hub.

The Allen Group, based in San Diego with regional offices in Visalia and Bakersfield, Calif., as well as Dallas, Texas, is trusted by Fortune 500 companies such as VF Corporation, Cox Communications, FedEx, International Paper Company, Intuit, Kraft Foods and Wal-Mart Stores. For more information about The Allen Group, please visit www.allengroup.com.

The Dallas Morning News

Officials Celebrate Hub Plans

S. Dallas County: Hopes High at Ceremony for Future Logistics Center.

April 14, 2007

LANCASTER – When Dallas Mayor Laura Miller urged the nearly 1,000 people gathered Friday at the Lancaster Municipal Airport to “celebrate like you’ve won the lottery,” she meant it.

The reason for her exuberance was the ceremony to introduce the 6,000-acre Dallas Logistics Hub, a facility that once built many believe could become one of the largest economic engines in the region, generating billions of dollars in investment and tens of thousands of new jobs. “We will not see this kind of development for a very long time,” Ms. Miller told the crowd, adding that in time the hub may come to rival the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in importance for North Texas.

Friday’s ceremony drew optimistic local, state and federal dignitaries, as well as area residents and business people who hope the development will be a major force in transforming southern Dallas County – a historically underdeveloped area – into a thriving economic community.

The Dallas Logistics Hub, being built by San Diego-based The Allen Group, is almost equally in Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer and Hutchins. It has easy access to Interstates 20, 45 and 35E, as well as the proposed Loop 9. It is adjacent to the Union Pacific intermodal railroad terminal, and Allen Group officials are negotiating with Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp about opening a similar terminal on the western side of the hub. People in the logistics industry consider the land around railroad intermodals as valuable as “ocean-front property,” said Richard Allen, founder and chief executive officer of The Allen Group.

Edward Romanov Jr., president and chief operating officer for The Allen Group, explained that the least expensive method of transporting goods is by ship, followed by train and then truck. Companies can save big money by keeping goods on ships and trains as long as possible and then efficiently transferring them onto trucks for shipment to major population areas, mostly in the eastern half of the U.S.

Major big-box retailers use logistics facilities such as this one and the one at Tarrant County’s Alliance development, not only to unload their goods from trains but also for distribution centers where goods are stored, sorted and eventually shipped by truck to other parts of the country.

The Dallas Logistics Hub will be the first major local competition faced by Alliance, the 11,600-acre development north of Fort Worth that opened in 1989 by Hillwood, the large commercial and residential development company owned by Ross Perot Jr. The Dallas hub will pursue the same tenants as Alliance – big-box retailers and manufacturers.

When the Dallas Logistics Hub is complete in the next 30 to 40 years, it is expected to employ about 30,000 workers in as much as 60 million square feet of distribution, manufacturing, office and retail facilities. About 65 percent of the land will be set aside for industrial and distribution space, with offices and other commercial development on the rest. The hub is expected to create a property tax base of $2.5 billion. Company officials predict that the direct economic impact of construction and employment at the facility through 2035 will be $68.8 billion.

In November, Dallas voters approved a $33 million bond to help pay for infrastructure improvements at the hub, and Lancaster plans to eventually lengthen its 5,000-foot runway to accommodate cargo flights. Mr. Allen said that his company has been working on opening the Dallas Logistics Hub for more than three years, starting with a site visit in October 2003.

Several factors figured in the decision to develop in southern Dallas County. “For whatever reasons, this part of the county had been underdeveloped,” Mr. Allen said. “There was a large tract of land available near several key interstates, next to two rail lines and with a large available labor pool.”

It was a formula that has already proved successful for Mr. Allen in California, where he launched his commercial development business. The formula was so successful that at least one North Texas city official expressed surprise that such a project like the hub hadn’t already been launched here. “It’s amazing to me that a group has to come in from California and do something that should have been done 20 years ago,” Lancaster Mayor Joe Tillotson said before the ceremony. Activity in the area may be showing signs of growth. Mr. Allen said that in recent years, other major development companies have begun to show interest in southern Dallas County. “But we were here when here wasn’t cool,” he said. “We’re delighted to have the confirmation of our vision.”

In addition to Ms. Miller and Mr. Tillotson, others in attendance at Friday’s ceremony included U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas; Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams; Jan Hart Black, president of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce; Dallas County Judge Jim Foster; Hutchins Mayor Artis Johnson; and Julie Nelson, deputy administrator for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s maritime administration.

Now that ground has been broken on the hub, The Allen Group officials don’t plan to waste much time getting their vision up and running. On Friday the company announced that it would start construction within 60 days on two buildings – one at 637,000 square feet and the other at 208,000 square feet – at the logistics hub site. Both are “spec” buildings, meaning that the company hasn’t signed tenants for the structures, but officials are confident they can fill them.

“That certainly shows we’re in here for the long term,” Mr. Romanov said, “as if $350 million in investment hasn’t done that already.”

Star-Telegram

BNSF Buys Option on 387 Acres for Possible Terminal

April 13, 2007

LANCASTER — BNSF Railway has purchased an option to buy 387 acres to build a logistics terminal at the Dallas Logistics Hub, a 6,000-acre distribution development in southern Dallas County.

The deal moves the plans for a BNSF terminal in Lancaster closer to reality but doesn’t guarantee it.

“It just allows us to be able to evaluate the site,” said Suann Lundsberg, a BNSF spokeswoman.

Union Pacific already operates a terminal at the hub. Having competing rail terminals at the site would give companies with distribution operations there more choices, executives with the development company, The Allen Group, say.

Allen announced the BNSF deal, signed Thursday night, at an open house for the hub Friday at Lancaster Municipal Airport. The hub sits in parts of Dallas, Wilmer, Lancaster and Hutchins.

Allen also announced that it will start work on two speculative buildings totaling 843,000 square feet within 60 days. It plans to spend $35 million on the project.

The open house included more than two hours’ worth of speakers, who lauded the hub’s role in helping North Texas capture more cargo from Asia.

The rapidly growing volume of Asian cargo typically arrives by ship at West Coast ports. In recent years, the preferred practice has been for companies to bring the cargo inland, to sites such as Texas, to unload or assemble it.

“We will not see this kind of development for a very long time,” said Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, whose city recently approved $33 million in bonds for hub infrastructure.

“It is as significant, in my opinion, as the development of D/FW Airport 30 years ago,” she said.

BNSF remains committed to the intermodal terminal it has at Alliance Airport, Lundsberg said. It handled  587,000 “lifts” last year. The railroad has plans to expand there, but capacity has not become an issue yet, she said.

Joe Arbona, a Union Pacific spokesman, said that given how rapidly Asian imports are growing, there is plenty of room for both terminals.

“There’s so much demand by the public and need by the public for goods and transportation by rail because of environmental and congestion in our highways that we welcome the competition,” he said.

Star-Telegram

Massive Dallas Rail Hub Planned

April 13, 2007

DALLAS — For almost four years, California developers have been quietly assembling 6,000 acres south of Dallas. They hope to turn the land into a warehouse and distribution center next to the Union Pacific terminal in Wilmer that they believe will rival the giant Alliance development in north Fort Worth.

“We think it will emerge as the most vibrant new logistics park in North America,” said Edward Romanov Jr., president and chief operating officer of the development company, The Allen Group .

An official unveiling of the development plans is scheduled for Friday at the Lancaster Municipal Airport, next to the site, which stretches over Dallas, Wilmer, Lancaster and Hutchins.

Top Allen executives said Wednesday that their company’s Dallas Logistics Hub will be the first inland port in North America to be served by terminals of two competing rail lines. The developer is still in negotiations with BNSF for that second “intermodal” terminal, designed to link truck, train and oceangoing containers.

“Which would place us as the only logistics park in North America that has two intermodals, let alone two of the largest freight carriers bringing in containers from Asia,” Romanov said.

The logistics park developers plan to connect the two terminals with a rail line, providing direct rail access to more buildings in the development. But more importantly, Romanov said, having two competing rail companies at the site could mean customers would get more negotiating power on price and more service, he said.

They also plan to one day help adapt the Lancaster airport to support cargo planes. The runway would need to be lengthened and converted to concrete from asphalt to handle heavy planes. But whether that happens will not affect plans to move forward, the developers said. Air cargo is only a small piece of the projected goods that will flow through the logistics hub.

“That is going to be icing on the cake as far as what is going to drive development in this area,” said Richard Allen, the chief executive. “We’re not building big distribution centers to hold computer chips that are coming in on airplanes.”

But they also believe that they have other advantages over Alliance because of the development’s abundance of relatively inexpensive land and a large labor pool.

The project is within the bounds of four major highways: the Interstate 35E NAFTA corridor, Interstate 45’s link to the Port of Houston, Interstate 20’s straight shot to the Port of Long Beach in California, and the proposed Loop 9, which will encircle the Metroplex. “This is what I call ‘the golden box of logistics,'” Allen said.

Mike Berry, president of Hillwood Properties, said even with the advantages touted by the Dallas Logistics Hub, Alliance has an enormous head start. It took Hillwood seven years to get the major components, such as highways, in place. And site selectors who need to move now look at what is currently in place, not what will be there in the future. “What’s in place today, at least the customers we talk to, is essential,” Berry said.

Ross Perot Jr., founder of the Alliance development company Hillwood, called the plans for this logistics and warehouse center a “direct threat” to the 18,000-acre Alliance last October.

“I would say ‘threat’ is a bit of a harsh description,” Romanov said. “Certainly we’ll be a major competitor. I think there’s still a viable marketplace for both projects.”

Allen and Romanov point to the sharp growth of imports from Asia. There is more than enough room for Alliance, the Dallas Logistics hub and other DFW distribution hubs to prosper. There’s so much potential demand, Allen said, that it has to go somewhere.

They believe that their development has an enormous advantage over Alliance because of its proximity to three interstates, as well as the possibility of having two rail terminals.

“The demand is there for big-box distribution centers to off-load the goods coming from Asia,” Allen said. “So, it’s got to be filled. And it’s going to be filled by the 50 industrial parks that exist in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.

“Yeah, we’ll be competitors, but the balloon has got to bulge someplace,” he said. “The demand is there for a second major logistics hub in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.”

Land purchases

The Allen Group started buying land around the Union Pacific intermodal terminal 3 1/2 years ago. After they had closed on 2,600 acres, they realized that the land could play a larger role in capturing that eastbound cargo from Asia. They bought 3,400 more acres, assembling a total of 114 parcels in a series of intricate deals.

Friday, The Allen Group will announce plans to start the development with 640,000-square-foot and 210,000-square-foot speculative industrial buildings near Interstate 20.

BNSF signed a memorandum of understanding to build a terminal at the Dallas Logistics Hub last November, Romanov said.

Now the company has about two years to decide whether it wants to build the terminal and start construction, he said. That fits with the company’s projection to reach capacity at Alliance in the next three years, he said.

Berry said his company is in talks with BNSF about expanding the Alliance rail terminal’s capacity. The terminal is a main stop for Asian imports from the Port of Long Beach.

Executives said the development and surrounding community will need about $350 million in infrastructure by the time the hub is fully built out.

That money will come from a variety of sources as the development evolves, not all of which is in place. But Romanov said the developers have been in contact with the four cities in which their acreage is located about the infrastructure needs.

Berry said it took his company 15 years to get $350 million worth of publicly funded infrastructure built at Alliance. Alliance is only 35 percent built out, Berry notes. And it’s not finished yet. He still wants to continue the expansion of Alliance Airport and see Interstate 35W widened, he said.

“Right now, infrastructure funding is very limited, and we can’t afford to slow down a project that is already in high gear,” Berry said.

Cargo growth

The movement of cargo has evolved significantly in recent years, Allen points out. Asian cargo is growing by leaps and bounds, and companies are challenged to find more efficient ways to get products to stores.

Shippers are experimenting with moving their containers through other West Coast ports besides the longtime favorite, the Port of Long Beach. Companies are delaying breaking apart the containers until trains carry them much further inland, to wide-open places like Texas. North Texas is cheaper, less congested and centrally located.

“It really isn’t a Dallas situation. It really isn’t a real estate equation,” Romanov said. “It’s really more of a globalization of the economy.”

Distributors are demanding a new generation of building, Allen said. They want higher clearances, more automated finish-outs, and giant buildings that are sometimes 10 times as big as the 100,000- square-foot warehouse that was standard more than a decade ago, he said.

These efficiencies help keep the price to the consumer down.  “It’s evolved as we’ve imported more and more goods,” Allen said.

Logistics Management

New Logistics Park Gets Underway in Dallas

April 13, 2007

DALLAS—Commercial real estate developer The Allen Group announced it is hosting a grand opening ceremony today for the Dallas Logistics Hub (DLH), which it said is the largest new logistics park under development in North America.

The DLH is comprised of 6,000 acres that are master-planned for the potential development of 60 million square feet of vertical logistics and manufacturing space, the Allen Group said in a statement. And it added that it is adjacent to Class I railroad carrier Union Pacific’s intermodal Facility, the BNSF rail line, major highway connectors—I-20, I-35, I-45 and the proposed Loop 9—and Lancaster Executive Airport, which is in the master plan stages to facilitate cargo distribution.

The Allen Group added that the DLH will serve as a major inland port bringing products by rail from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, including the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach and Houston and the western deep water ports in Mexico for regional and national distribution.

Dan McAuliffe, vice president for The Allen Group’s Texas management team, toldLogistics Management that the DLH currently has the ability to accommodate companies with up to 1.1 million square feet available in several locations, as well as up to 2.2 million square feet in others.

“In a short period of time, we will begin development of our first phase of public infrastructure, which will open up more than 750 acres of land,” said McAuliffe. He also noted that development for the DLH is part of four different cities—Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer, and Hutchins.

McAuliffe explained that the DLH will provide shippers with several benefits for importing and exporting freight, with the most notable one being its close proximity to an intermodal facility.

“Once a container is unloaded from a train to a trailer chassis, the haul to the warehouse [drayage] can in some cases be more than $2.75 per mile,” he said. “When you evaluate the additional operating cost of a facility that is located 20 miles from the intermodal facility, the annual drayage costs could be equal to the rent paid on the warehouse.”

Other shipper benefits cited by McAuliffe were the DLH’s close proximity to major highways in Texas, and dual Class I railroad carriers, which he said would make the DLH the only industrial park in North America with dual Class I intermodal facilities that would give shippers greater flexibility and a higher level of service.

Along with these benefits, McAuliffe also pointed out that the DLH is built on inexpensive and available land, noting that prices for full-developed industrial land in other Dallas-based industrial parks are more than 150 percent higher than similar land at the DLH. And he also said that the opportunities for a 100-acre or more industrial user in a high quality industrial park are very limited in other locations throughout the Dallas-Forth Worth market.

The Journal of Commerce

Dallas Logistics Hub Opens

April 13, 2007

The Dallas Logistics Hub was officially opened Friday, with a master plan that covers 6,000 acres and 60 million square-feet of distribution, manufacturing, office and retail uses.

The hub, developed by The Allen Group, is located at Lancaster Municipal Airport, Lancaster, Texas.

The center is designed to serve as a gateway for the distribution of goods to the major population centers throughout the central and eastern United States.

The Allen Group, based in San Diego, also announced plans for two industrial buildings to begin development of the project. Totaling 640,000 and 210,000 square-feet, construction of the two new speculative buildings will commence in June and be completed by the end of 2007.

Richard Allen, chief executive of The Allen Group, said, “The Hub will be a significant factor in the international flow of Asian goods from the U.S. and Mexican ports and into the population centers of the Midwest and east coast of the United States.”

The development is projected to create 31,000 new direct jobs and 32,000 new indirect jobs. Texas recorded more than $150 billion in export revenues in 2006.

The site is adjacent to Union Pacific’s Southern Dallas Intermodal Terminal, four major interstate highway connectors, and Lancaster Airport, which is in the master-planning stage for air-cargo distribution.

The Dallas Morning News

Expectations Big as Logistics Hub Set for Opening

Dallas County: Developer offering look at ‘huge’ southern-sector facility

April 13, 2007

After years of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, the Dallas Logistics Hub is about to become a reality and a potential economic boom for southern Dallas County and North Texas.

The Allen Group, a California real estate developer, will host a grand opening today at the Lancaster Municipal Airport for the 6,000-acre hub. The facility is expected to eventually employ about 30,000 workers in as much as 60 million square feet of distribution, manufacturing, office and retail facilities.

The hub, adjacent to the Union Pacific intermodal rail terminal, is located almost equally in southern Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer and Hutchins. Officials say that as much as $2.5 billion could be added to the tax rolls of the four cities.

“It’s huge,” said Joe Johnson, president of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce. “Its benefits to the southern Dallas County region are going to be incredible.”

Edward Romanov Jr., president and chief operating officer of The Allen Group, said the company has been focused on acquiring the necessary land and in designing infrastructure to support the hub. It soon will begin turning its attention to building and leasing.

Richard Allen, founder and chief executive officer of The Allen Group, said the Dallas Logistics Hub – which has been compared to Alliance Airport in Tarrant County – is in an almost ideal location for distribution of goods from throughout the world. The area not only had a large amount of available land, but it also has easy access to three interstate highways – Interstate 35E, Interstate 45 and Interstate 20 – as well as the proposed Loop 9, the Lancaster airport and the Union Pacific intermodal terminal. Southern Dallas County also has a large available labor force, he said.

Mr. Allen said his company began looking at the site about 3 ½ years ago after learning about the Union Pacific intermodal terminal.

Within a short time an initial land acquisition of 100 acres had grown to 2,600 acres and then the eventual 6,000 acres. Improvements on the land so far total about $350 million, he said.

Mr. Allen described Dallas as the “gateway to the population centers of the East.”

“We’re very, very excited and extremely enthusiastic about being here,” Mr. Allen said.

If You Go

What: Dallas Logistics Hub grand opening ceremony

Who: Officials from The Allen Group, federal and state government, as well as local cities

When: 10 a.m. to noon Friday; program followed by barbecue lunch and helicopter rides over the property from noon to 2 p.m.

Where: Lancaster Municipal Airport, 730 Ferris Road in Lancaster

Admission: Free

Dallas Business Journal

BNSF Railway Closer to New Yard Opening

April 13, 2007

BNSF Railway Co. moved a step closer Friday to building a second intermodal rail yard in North Texas, this one in southern Dallas County near competitor Union Pacific Railroad Co.’s $90 million facility.

Matt Rose, chairman and CEO of Fort Worth based BNSF (NYSE: BNI), signed an agreement Friday that ensures the railroad the right to buy from 387 acres to 490 acres of land from The Allen Group for a new yard, according to Edward Romanov Jr., president and COO of The Allen Group.

The move is not “the final step,” but rather “a major step,” said Romanov, noting it would be the second such rail yard for Allen Group’s 6,000-acre master planned Dallas Logistics Hub, which sits adjacent to UP.

“We’re just thrilled with this development,” said Romanov. “We’ll be the talk of the logistics industry by Monday morning.”

BNSF confirmed in a statement Friday that it had purchased an option to buy land.

Romanov announced the latest development in the company’s talks with BNSF at a grand opening ceremony at Lancaster Municipal Airport for the logistics hub. Romanov also announced construction will start in 60 days on the hub’s first buildings, two state-of-the-art, speculative industrial facilities, one of them 630,000 square feet and the other 207,000 square feet.

While the boundaries of the logistics hub extend into several cities and counties, the first buildings will be located in Dallas.

“That’s in recognition of the city support we got,” Romanov told a crowd of several hundred, including numerous city, state and national dignitaries on hand for the occasion.

A $1.35 billion bond package recently approved by the voters of the city of Dallas included $33 million to develop everything from roads to water and sewer lines in the logistics hub.

Citing that kind of city contribution as “unprecedented,” Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said she believes the Dallas Logistics Hub project is as significant to the city’s economy as the development as Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport 30 years ago.

California-based The Allen Group, led by founder Richard Allen, told the city more than 18 months ago about its plans for the major development. The company’s reputation as a successful national developer preceded it, said Miller, and the master planned development is like “winning the lottery” for Dallas.

“We won’t see another project like this again for a long time,” she said.

Allen, speaking after the ceremony, speculated “90 percent probability” that BNSF will move forward with the intermodal yard.

“In my mind, it’s a done deal,” he said. “They want it. And we want it.” BNSF currently has a major intermodal yard at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, handling both domestic and international rail freight. It competes aggressively with Omaha, Neb.-based UP to win container shipments from the various ocean liner shipping firms.

In confirming the option to buy land in southern Dallas County, BNSF affirmed its business presence at Alliance.

“The option does not lessen BNSF’s commitment to its Alliance facility near Fort Worth. BNSF believes Metroplex growth patterns and geography may warrant its participation in the Alliance and Dallas facilities in order to best serve its customers,” the company said in a prepared statement.

Intermodal — shipping products by multiple transportation modes — is the fastest growing freight segment in the nation’s rail industry due to a flood of Asian goods into the U.S. The imports arrive in ocean-going containers, mostly via ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.

The huge containers are “lifted” by giant cranes onto rail cars, then shipped to intermodal yards in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago and a few other major distribution hubs. Trucks then deliver the containers to distribution centers.

For BNSF to have multiple intermodal yards in one area is rare, but not unheard of. Throughout its massive U.S. network of intermodal yards, BNSF has two in southern California, and three in Chicago.

WFAA 8

‘Inland Port’ May Create 30,000 Jobs

April 13, 2007

LANCASTER — The ribbon was cut on Friday for what Dallas Mayor Laura Miller has called the most exciting economic development she’s ever seen in the southern sector.

Burlington Northern also announced it would build its own intermodal facility in southern Dallas County.

Already, Far East products are flowing in through Union Pacific’s Southern Dallas Intermodal Terminal’s giant facility, which moves 1,000 containers every day. The tractor-trailer sized containers carry freight from West Coast ports. The intermodal center routes the on trucks and other trains, and move them somewhere else. But the “inland port” is set for a quantum leap.

Burlington Northern has purchased the option to buy up to 490 acres alongside this track.While presently the land is being used for farms and crops, a trade complex will soon rise over a thousands of acre area, which could create tens of thousands of jobs.

Dubbed “America’s Inland Port,” The Dallas Logistics Hub will be a major center for international trade.

“We will not see this kind of development for a very long time,” said Dallas mayor, Laura Miller.

“It is as significant, in my opinion, as the development of D/FW International Airport 30 years ago.”

“Economic development, which has been absent from the southern sector, of Dallas is coming. And that is why we are so excited,” said Mayor Artis Johnson of Hutchins.

A San Diego developer, The Allen Group, purchased 6,000 acres in Dallas, Wilmer, Hutchins and Lancaster to create the major logistics hub. Eventually, the Dallas Hub will house 60 million square feet of warehouse and industrial space.

It will sit between two major Railroads, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern. Lancaster Airport sits to the south, with more room to expand. It’s also surrounded by several freeways, which are key routes for trucking.

For southern Dallas County, the overall good news will be the jobs. The project itself has created 30,000, and another potentially 30,000 could arise from the businesses that spring up around it.

Construction is set to begin on the first two of those warehouses that will be 800,000 square feet. The Allen Group said it’s just the start.

The inland port is the creation of numerous city, county and state officials and their political cooperation that is not often seen.

“Because of that desire, because of that will, because we were wanted, we were willing to make that investment,” said Richard Allen, The Allen Group.

Local leaders said the region is poised for an economic boom.

“What that represents, I truly believe, is an economic driver that will equal D-FW in ten years,” said Bill Blaydes, Dallas City Council. “Mark my word.”

Univision

Puerto Intermodal en el Metroplex Se Crearán Miles Deempleos

April 13, 2007

DALLAS.- Con una inversión de 2.4 billones de dólares, The Allen Group presentó el proyecto de construcción de un puerto intermodal denominado Dallas Logistics HUB, con lo que se planea colocar al Metroplex a la cabeza de parques de este tipo en todo norteamérica.

Proyecto a 15 años

En un área superior a los 6 mil hectáreas, esteimportante proyecto traerá intercambios comerciales para todas las empresas en el Metroplex.

Pero lo más importante es que traerá la creación de 31 empleos directos, que son los empleos que estarán disponibles al concretarse al obra, y 32 empleos indirectos que se crearán durante a construcción de todo el HUB o puerto intermodal, además de empleos que se derivan de esta magno proyecto.

Centro de distribución más grande denorteamérica

El Dallas Logistics HUB, será el centro de distribución que abarcará la parte central y sureste de los EU, pero que sirve como puente comercial entre todo el país y toda la mercancía que llega de México y sudamérica.

Según cifras del Banco de Comercio Exterior – BANCOMEXT, el 70 por ciento de las exportaciones de México hacia Texas, pasan por puertos texanos. Esto no significa que toda la carga comercial se queda en Texas, pero es un importante centro de distribución para todos los productos que se importan y exportan.

Localización

Estará unicado en el aeropuerto municipal de Lancaster, el cual tendrá un considerable ampliación, que en toda abarcará 6 mil hectáreas al final de la obra, abarcando una porción de las ciudades de Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer y Hutchison.

Además de la construcción de más pistas aéreas para tráfico áereo de mayor escala, tendrá acceso por las diferentes vías carreteras estatales como la carretera interestatal 20, 35 este y la 45.

Se proyecta la construcción de otro circuito (loop) que vendría siendo el 9 y ayudará a desahogar el tráfico vehicular del circuito 12.

Este puerto intermodal contará dos centrales de las mayores empresas de ferrocarril de la nación, con lo que se agrupa los tres medios de transporte necesarios para este futuro y gran centro comercial.

The Allen Group

Fundada en 1991, este grupo es una prestigiada firma de inversionistas y constructores de desarrollos industriales y entre sus clientes se encuentran VF Communications, FedEx, Internacional Paper Company, Intuit, Kraft Foods y Wal-Mart Stores.