Fort Worth BusinessPress

Dallas Rail Hub Might Spell Competition for Alliance

April 12, 2007

The official grand opening of the Dallas Logistics Hub last week could mean additional competition for the Alliance development in north Fort Worth.

The Allen Group, a California developer of commercial properties, plans to open the new 6,000-acre logistics park consisting of a warehouse and distribution center next to the Union Pacific railroad terminal in Wilmer, south of Dallas. According to the Allen Group, the Dallas Logistics Hub will be the first inland port in North America to be served by terminals of two competing rail lines – Union Pacific and BNSF. The developer is still in negotiations with BNSF for the second intermodal terminal designed to link truck, train and oceangoing containers, according to a company release. BNSF’s intermodal terminal is one of the major components in the Alliance development and helped ensure the success of that project when it opened in 1995.

Hillwood Properties, which owns and operates the 17,000-acre Alliance Airport and business development along Interstate 35W in northern Tarrant County, has used the intermodal facility to lure companies with shipping needs to this area.

Alliance is 25 percent developed, with the developed areas at 97 percent occupancy.

During a speech at TCU late last year, Ross Perot Jr., chairman and founder of Hillwood Development Co., said his company continues to watch development at a southeast Dallas industrial park, an area he once referred to as a threat.

“We certainly have competition in the marketplace,” Perot said. “The South Dallas airport is certainly one we watch.”

At a meeting of the 35W Coalition last week, officials there said any threat from the south Dallas facility will be several years in the future because building the infrastructure for that type of development won’t happen overnight.

Speaking to the group, Mayor Mike Moncrief said the area must keep its focus on handling transportation issues.

“The challenge is to keep the message on the front burner,” he said.

Today Newspapers

The Allen Group, a Major Developer of Commercial Properties Across the United States, is Hosting a Texas-Style Celebration to Commemorate the Grand Opening of the Dallas Logistics Hub.

April 11, 2007

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

This premiere logistics facility 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 Loop 9/Trans-Texas Corridor) and Lancaster Airport, which is in the master-planning stages to facilitate air-cargo distribution.

The Dallas Hub, which spans across the communities of Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer and Hutchins, is a key component of the NAFTA infrastructure and will serve as a major “inland port” bringing products from the Ports of L.A./ Long Beach and Houston, as well as the western deep water ports in Mexico for regional and national distribution.

This is an exciting opportunity as the Dallas Logistics Hub is slated to become one of the biggest economic engines for Northern Texas, with the project creating 30,000 new jobs in southern Dallas County, including increasing the tax base for the communities of Lancaster, Wilmer and Hutchins by $2.4 billion.

The grand opening event will also include appearances by Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and several other state and local dignitaries, community and business leaders.

Dallas South Blog

Dallas Logistics Hub Grand Opening Set for Southern Dallas County

April 10, 2007

Friday is set to be an exciting day for Dallas County, most notably the southern portion of the county.

April 13, 2007 will mark the grand opening of the Dallas Logistics Hub. The Allen Group will host an opening ceremony for the facility on Friday from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Lancaster Municipal Airport, 730 Ferris Road in Lancaster.

According to the press release, the Dallas Logistics Hub is the largest new logistics park under development in North America, with 6,000 acres master-planned for the development of 60 million square feet of distribution, manufacturing, office and retail uses.

The release also proclaims the facility’s unique intermodal, rail, and highway access positions Southern Dallas County as the premier trade hub in the Southwestern United States. At full build out, The Dallas Logistics Hub will create approximately 31,000 direct and 32,000 indirect jobs, and increase the tax base for Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer, and Hutchins by $2.4 billion.

Scheduled to speak at the grand opening are U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, State Representative Helen Giddings, and Dallas Mayor Laura Miller.

Driving through Wilmer on I-45 or into Lancaster south off 20, you can see pieces of the puzzle beginning to come together. I’ve been reading about this facility for a while, and this seems to be a good opportunity for the citizens of these communities.

Stay tuned for more on “the Hub” in the weeks to come.

KC Community News

Kansas Allen Group President Says Issues Accompany Hub

April 5, 2007

Although he has managed development at the Sprint Campus and Village West, Bill Crandall, Allen Group of Kansas president, said the KC Logistics Hub presents an entirely different set of issues.

The Allen Group named Crandall, 47, president of the Kansas City team in early March. His top priority is managing the KC Logistics Hub, the intermodal logistics park planned near Gardner.

“We’re coming in with a clean slate,” Crandall said. “This is a large, very complicated project that has a lot of moving parts. It will be a significant economic contributor to Gardner, Johnson County and the state of Kansas. It was for that reason there was an allure to a large, complicated project. It’s what really gets my engine going.”

Crandall, a Kansas City area native, graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in architecture. His professional career started with stadium architecture firm HOK in Kansas City, Mo. After a stint in Chicago, Crandall returned to the Kansas City area in 1996 while working for the Stein Co. Crandall later moved to Zimmer Real Estate, where he managed the Sprint and Village West developments. In 2006, Crandall started a real estate consulting firm, but The Allen Group convinced him to join their team.

“There are items that distinguish this project and give it a lot of similarities to Sprint and Village West,” Crandall said.

“Sprint is 200 acres and it is kind of urban. Village West was 400 rural acres. The KC Logistics Hub is 1,000 acres. In all three there was significant land planning and we’re very much in the process of beginning that in Gardner. Also, particularly with Village West, there was a strong public-private commitment to make it successful. We haven’t gotten into the details of that yet, but in that way I think the two can be similar. This is a third economic event for Kansas.”

Crandall said he is meeting with Gardner city staff and that there is plenty of work going into the project right now.

The Allen Group of Kansas offices will probably move to Gardner by the end of the summer, Crandall said. Crandall oversees The Allen Group’s foray into Kansas commercial and industrial real estate. Crandall had won the contract to manage the Applebee’s project in Lenexa, which he now brings to The Allen Group. Crandall said he is learning more each day about Gardner and its history.

“In this instance change will be good,” Crandall said.

“We want to be respectful of the day-to-day impact on the Gardner community. It’s not only public finance issues. This will change the fabric of Gardner. We believe it will change it for better. At the same time we want people to enjoy the quaintness of the community. We are mindful of that.”

Crandall, who lives in Leawood, said he has watched Johnson County continue to grow to the south. He said the logistics hub should further that growth and add value to the city.

“It’s going to create a lot of good paying jobs,” Crandall said. “It will also diversify the local economy. One Hundred Seventy-fifth Street and Gardner Road is not as far south as it used to be. That’s through no efforts of ours; the demographic has shifted to the southwest of the metro area.”