Fort Worth Rail-Served Buildings Get Harder to Find

CanTex Capital recently acquired the Sylvania Industrial Park in Fort Worth for an undisclosed purchase price. Located at 3201 N. Sylvania Ave., the manufacturing campus is the largest crane-served and rail-served facility in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Todd Hubbard, NAI Robert Lynn managing principal and Fort Worth president, represented the buyer in the transaction.

“We have had tremendous leasing activity and are currently working on multiple proposals for the vacancy,” said Hubbard. “With more companies onshoring manufacturing due to the supply chain issues, crane-served manufacturing space with access to rail anywhere in Fort Worth or Dallas is difficult to find. Sylvania Business Park is located in the heart of Fort Worth with immediate access to Interstate 35 W, surrounded by a tremendous labor base and well positioned to bring manufacturing jobs back and strengthen the local economy.”

CanTex Capital will renovate the 880,000-square-foot facility, making extensive capital improvements to reposition it as a top-notch industrial campus.

“There is strong demand for rail- and crane-served facilities with outside storage, but these class-B properties rarely receive capital improvements,” said Sam Cheema, COO and principal of CanTex Capital. “Our team is excited to not only modernize the facility but to add some new amenities found in class-A business parks. One of the major components of the upgrades will be increasing energy efficiency throughout the buildings.”

Serviced by Fort Worth and Western Railroad, the property is located just a few minutes from downtown Fort Worth on I-35, near major logistics corridors.

“Rail-served buildings in the Fort Worth area are getting hard to come by,” said Benji Hubbard, senior director of business development for the Fort Worth & Western Railroad. “This facility is unique with access to three Class I railroads with rail service multiple days per week.”

Fort Worth has been a key target for companies seeking manufacturing spaces in a growing labor market.

“We continue to see a great deal of investment in Fort Worth,” said Sara Thurber, vice president of economic development for the Fort Worth Chamber. “Currently, the Fort Worth Chamber has more than 100 projects in the pipeline and this space will be an incredible asset for us to market to those potential companies, bringing jobs and more growth to Fort Worth.”