Crow Holdings Backs Foundry Commercial’s Latest Dallas Play

Crow Holdings Capital might operate out of the leafy Old Parkland campus in the heart of Dallas, but it’s keeping its investment portfolio in line with new turns in DFW suburban markets.

Crow put up a piece of the backing for an Orlando developer’s latest North Texas play, a 7-acre property with a lone and vacant 45,000 square foot office it acquired on undisclosed terms, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Foundry Commercial plans a warehouse development of 120,000 square feet with 32-foot-high loading bays on the site, at 4250 North Belt Line Road in Irving. Plans call for construction to start in September and be completed in the summer of 2026.

Foundry Commercial keeps its Texas office in the Oak Lawn district of Dallas, about a mile from Old Parkland, where Harlan Crow’s operation keeps its headquarters, surrounded by various family offices and other investment firms on the campus. The developer has been busy in the DFW market and elsewhere in recent years, plying a specialty of office-to-industrial conversions. It now has five properties in DFW, including a project that is underway on several buildings in Plano. It has another five conversions under its belt in various markets around the U.S.

The latest deal indicates that Foundry Commercial sees continued potential as office markets are ailing in many suburban markets. The strategy is based on what the developer expects to be “strong demand from logistics and manufacturing users who want to be closer to labor, rooftops, and major transportation corridors,” partner and general manager Jim Traynor told the outlet.

Supporting the strategy in Irving is limits on industrial zoning amid strong demand for Class A industrial space, which the developer can address with new construction.

The developer has retained Holt Lunsford Commercial’s Andrew Gilbert and Keaton Bryce — the duo behind the recent $43.5 million sale of the Dallas Morning News’ 620,000-square-foot printing facility in Plano — to handle leasing on the latest project in Irving.