Hillwood has acquired control of 600 acres of additional contiguous property giving the potential for future industrial projects right in the heart of the development.
Located in the Alliance Westport sector along FM 156 between Fort Worth Alliance Airport and the BNSF Railway Alliance Intermodal Facility, the new property increases Hillwood’s future industrial development potential to over 36 million square feet in Tarrant and Denton Counties. It also enhances Hillwood’s ability to offer large-scale logistics, manufacturing and aviation sites adjacent to the recently expanded runways at Alliance Airport.
“This is one of the most significant land acquisitions in the history of AllianceTexas,” said Tony Creme, senior vice president of Hillwood. “As Alliance Airport and the BNSF Railway Alliance Intermodal Facility continue to expand and strengthen the foundation for AllianceTexas’ commercial growth, this new property in Alliance Westport will serve as a strategic link between these two pieces of critical logistics infrastructure and offer unparalleled connectivity to our customers.”
Alliance Westport is anchored by BNSF Railway’s intermodal facility, which offers both domestic and international service options. It provides direct routes to Mexico, and expedited transit times to the west coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. By incorporating state of the art technology, BNSF Railway Alliance Intermodal Facility is currently operating at volumes comparable to some of the largest ocean ports in the U.S.
Fort Worth Alliance Airport recently completed its runway extension project at the north end of the airport, which expanded both runways to 11,000 feet. Funding for the $250 million project was supported by the FAA, TxDOT, Tarrant County and the City of Fort Worth. As a result, Fort Worth Alliance Airport has increased its air cargo capacity by providing direct flight capabilities to every major market around the world. The expansion also enables long-haul flights to take off with a full load of cargo while fully fueled in almost any type of weather condition.
Alliance Westport is already home to over eight million square feet of industrial and aviation development, including key logistics facilities for Amazon Air and UPS. When combined with BNSF Railway’s intermodal facility volumes, these three hubs will offer Alliance Westport customers unparalleled access to rail, highway and air shipping options, all within a one-mile radius. The shipping capabilities of these hubs combined with immediate access to Interstate 35W and the FedEx Express Air and Ground hubs make Alliance Westport a very attractive location for any manufacturing or distribution company focused on reducing supply chain costs and increasing speed to market. In addition, Alliance Westport offers access to the same workforce recruitment, training and retention resources that are currently available to all AllianceTexas companies through the Alliance Workforce Center and Tarrant County College’s Corporate Training Center and Center of Excellence for Aviation Transportation and Logistics (CEATL). Customers at AllianceTexas can also utilize the benefits of Foreign-Trade Zones and on-site customs, making international shipping extremely efficient and economical.
Hillwood recently announced that it will create the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone by leveraging its multimodal development to launch a cutting-edge center of innovation. The company plans to collaborate with its anchor corporations, future customers, policy makers, regulators, entrepreneurs and academic institutions for partners to develop, test, scale and commercialize advanced mobility technology and business models. By providing the infrastructure for multi-modal transportation, AllianceTexas is positioned to support the testing of innovative aerial and surface technologies to move both freight and people within a self-contained environment.
As AllianceTexas celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, the expansion of Alliance Westport furthers Hillwood’s proactive approach to growing the development in the wake of rapid land absorption through continued development. The new property will allow Hillwood to continue its aggressive speculative building program in the Westport sector, while also offering build-to-suit sites for its industrial and aviation customers with highly specific facility needs. Additionally, this acquisition marks a new wave of development adjacent to the exact location where AllianceTexas started 30 years ago.