Houston Company Starts Spec Cold Storage Project

April 28, 2021, Katherine Feser, Houston Chronicle

Houston-based Boomerang Interests launched its first project, a 315,101-square-foot cold storage warehouse in northeast Houston. In a joint venture with CenterSquare Investment Management, Boomerang is breaking ground on Houston ColdPort at 7500 Uvalde Road before securing any tenants.

Site work is underway on 22.5 acres at the northwest corner of Beltway 8 and U.S. 90. Construction of the building is expected to start in about two months, according to Boomerang, which expects to complete the project in the second quarter 2022.

Boomerang co-founders Andy Cyrus and Beau Bellow began researching the need for cold storage in the Houston market in 2018. Demand has since increased with the pandemic. “The pandemic accelerated and highlighted the growing demand for online ordering of refrigerated and frozen foods,” CenterSquare Managing Director Jeff Reder said in an announcement. “The improved efficiencies of modern cold storage facilities are desired by a variety of users servicing the food and beverage industries and beyond. Houston is a top target market for cold storage users given its large and growing population, central location, business-friendly environment, and of course being home to one of the largest ports in the world.”

The project, which is accessible to the Port of Houston's Barbours Cut and Bayport terminals, is designed to accommodate a variety of cold storage uses, including freezer and/or cooler cold storage, food processing/manufacturing, and food distribution. The building can be leased to one tenant or divided for two tenants.

Arco Design/Build is handling the project, which has a 50-foot clear height warehouse, a 60-foot-deep cold dock, 38 dock positions, a 200-foot-deep truck court with 57 trailer parking spaces and automobile parking.

Chris Cummings and Walker Barnett of Colliers International will handle leasing. The JLL team of Trent Agnew, Dustin Volz, Will Mogk, Michael Johnson and Wells Waller arranged financing for Houston ColdPort.