Since the first flights at Fort Worth Alliance Airport in north Fort Worth took off in 1989, the business park AllianceTexas that surrounds it has reached the heights of business growth.
This year, the 26,000 acres master-planned development will experience record industrial growth, which in comparison will be beaten by the number of developments completing next year, according to a new report.
The report, conducted by commercial real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., found that warehouse and distribution space in AlianceTexas is nearing a total of 40 million square feet.
Over 8 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space is currently under development at AllianceTexas.
According to the report, the area will get a record-breaking 3.2 million square feet of warehouse and distribution property in 2019 alone. While, an additional 4.5 million square feet of warehouse and distribution property will be delivered in 2020.
“Companies are going to capitalize for the reasons of labor, or location,” said Nick Thomas, senior research analyst at JLL. “Fort Worth, being half-way through the country, makes for a great spot to the logistics to distribute to not only our area, around Fort Worth, but nationally.”
Over 60,000 employees work in over 500 companies in the area. This includes Facebook’s $1 billion data center campus, along with several high-profile companies like Textron, Charles Schwab and BNSF Railway. FedEX also has its Southwest Regional Sort Hub in the area. And, so does UPS.
Amazon announced last December its plan to open a regional air hub at the Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The retailer and technology company’s 600,000 square foot air hub is currently under development.
“The area around Alliance has been extremely strong for development,” Thomas said. “At this point, in the real estate cycle, we’re seeing probably the highest amount of construction ever up there by Alliance.”
All three taxing entities in AllianceTexas — city, county, and school district — have enacted the Freeport Tax Exemption, a tax exemption through which companies are not required to pay inventories tax on goods and that are forwarded out of Texas within 175 days of arrival.
Developed and managed by real estate developers Hillwood, the area has generated approximately $76.43 billion in regional economic impact in the last 30 years, according to AllianceTexas.
The development currently has eight industrial properties listed as available.