Ex-NFLer leases Austin warehouse for esports business, speakeasy

Here’s one way to use an old warehouse. 

Former NFL player Kenny Vaccaro leased a 22,500-square-foot warehouse in Austin with plans to build out a location for his esports business, Gamers First, the Austin Business Journal reported. Vaccaro’s plans for the 1970-built warehouse at 4312 Willow Springs Road, in the St. Elmo district, include studio space for photography and podcasts as well as an invitation only speakeasy.

Conrad Madsen, co-founder and partner at Paladin Partners, offers a baseball metaphor to pull the Dallas-Fort Worth industrial/logistics picture into focus. “Infield” properties will continue to thrive due to low availability and new construction in established industrial areas. While “outfield” properties will have slower rent growth due to plentiful competition and owners who will be anxious to fill space rather than demand the highest rent, he wrote in a newsletter this week.

“When it’s all said and done, we could have over 60-70M SF of speculative product sitting on the ground around the outfield of DFW,” he wrote in an email to The Real Deal. “Big number that could take 4+ years to absorb if absorption trends downward as the recession deepens.” 

Port Houston’s capacity is expanding with the completion of the $92 million Bayport Container Terminal Expansion, the Houston Business Journal reported. The project, funded in part with a $22 million federal grant, has been under construction since May 2021. The 1,000-foot expansion, known as Wharf 6, makes room for the latest technology in ship-to-shore cranes. It is expected to open in October.

Here are a few notable recent transactions in Texas:

Stream Realty Partners’ Raceway Northwest distribution center at 9707 Fairbanks North in Houston, which was delivered in March, is now fully leased to a single tenant. KHD Group, a furniture vendor, will occupy nearly 160,000 square feet. 

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Global supply chain company Kuehne & Nagel leased more than 400,000 square feet from Life Science Logistics LLC in the DFW International Commerce Park I at 2600 Regent Boulevard in Irving. Blake Anderson of Newmark represented the tenant.

Ultra Clean Technology Systems, a NASDAQ-traded company based in California, leased more than 100,000 square feet near Austin, in the Crossroads Logistics Center at 8500 East Parmer Lane in Manor. Joshua LaFico of Newmark represented the tenant.