Austin-based real estate firm Balcones Real Estate Group is moving forward with plans to build a 98,000-square-foot Class AA speculative industrial warehouse distribution facility in San Marcos.
San Marcos City Council approved the development during Tuesday night’s city council meeting. The measure must still pass a second reading from council for final approval.
Located on nine acres at 500 Wonder World Drive, there are some unique differences compared to other warehouses constructed in the region, said Otto Swingler with the real estate group.
“It is a ‘typical industrial development’ in many ways considering 28’ clear height, all concrete 130’ truck court, ESFR Sprinklers, 52’ interior column spacing,” said Swingler. “What makes this project unique is the shallow bay and ‘move in ready’ nature of the building at 140’ building depth as well as 1.72/1,000 parking ratio, and most particularly the ‘pre-demised’ nature of the office/warehouse suites.”
Swingler said they have designed and permitted six total “spec office suites” allowing for move-in ready occupancy for tenants in the 7300 SF – 14,600 SF – 19,800 SF size range.
“Tenants of this size often times cannot go through the lengthy process to design, permit, and then construct their interior office build out,” Swingler said. “In total, space planning and creation of construction documents can take 2 months, permitting another 1-2 months, and physical construction 3-4 months.”
Swingler said this process adds 6-8 months in total time for a prospective tenant to take possession.
“Our ability to deliver move-in ready space helps smaller office/ warehouse tenants across a variety of industry types find highly functional space that is truly ready to go,” added Swingler.
Regarding the infrastructure, Swingler said the building’s shallow bay nature provides far more loading positions than would be typical for a larger/deeper building.
“We can offer a total of 44 9’x10’ dock high loading positions as well as 2 oversize 12’x14’ drive in ramps,” Swingler said. “Additionally, 500 Wonder World Drive can accommodate heavier power users with a total of 3000A service size to the building.”
Once complete there will be 170 total striped car parking spaces with the ability to stripe up to 270 additional (within Truck Court for perhaps a lab or manufacturing use that would not need all available loading positions) for a total of 440 total car parking spaces.
The capital expenditure of the project is approximately $16.45M. The city of San Marcos approved, on first reading, a Chapter 380 agreement as part of an incentive allowing for tax rebates for the unleased portions of the building over the next three years. In the first year, the rebate will be at 100 percent and will gradually reduce to 75 and 50 percent over the following two years. The agreement will terminate if the building becomes fully leased before the end of the three-year term.
During the next 10 years the city estimates it will collect $971,000 in property tax revenue from the project. It also estimates Hays County will collect $636,000 in property tax revenue while San Marcos CISD will collect $537,000 during the same time period.
“We are excited to see this project constructed in San Marcos,” said Christian Smith, Economic & Business Development Manager for the City of San Marcos. “Balcones Real Estate Group is fulfilling a need in the city’s real estate offerings that will allow us to attract more jobs within a high-quality infill development.”
Swingler said he’s grateful for the help from the City of San Marcos and the Greater San Marcos Partnership.
“Christian Smith with the City Manager’s Office as well as Emily Mathes and Mike Kamerlander at the Greater San Marcos Partnership, were all very helpful in navigating the process to apply for incentives and we are very appreciative of their help,” Swingler added. “I thank all three of them very much for their effort with us.”
The San Marcos project is scheduled to be complete by May 2025.
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