Urban Logistics Realty Plans Two Industrial Projects in Houston

• Urban Logistics Realty and Principal Asset Management are developing two spec industrial buildings totaling 341,000 SF in North Houston, on former Aldine ISD land.
• Urban NXS Fallbrook: 182,400 SF cross-dock near Beltway 8 and Veterans Memorial Drive. Urban NXS West: 158,600 SF front-load at West Road and Ella Boulevard.
• Both break ground this summer and deliver Q2 2027; First United Bank & Trust is providing construction financing.
• The pair is ULR and Principal AM's second major infill industrial push in Houston, following The Brickyard, a 542,851 SF three-building spec park in NW Houston that broke ground in May 2025.

ULR Buys Aldine ISD Sites for 341,000 SF Spec Play

Urban Logistics Realty is turning former school district property into spec industrial. The Dallas-based developer has acquired two infill sites in North Houston from the Aldine Independent School District, where it plans to build Urban NXS Fallbrook and Urban NXS West, a pair of buildings totaling 341,000 square feet in a joint venture with Principal Asset Management.

The two sites sit roughly 1.4 miles apart near the southwest corner of Interstate 45 North and Beltway 8, one of North Houston's busiest industrial corridors. Urban NXS Fallbrook will rise at 182,400 square feet as a cross-dock building adjacent to Veterans Memorial Drive, with direct access to Beltway 8. Urban NXS West will be a 158,600 SF front-load facility at the corner of West Road and Ella Boulevard, within a mile of both Beltway 8 and I-45.

Both buildings will feature 32-foot clear heights, four points of ingress and egress, trailer and employee parking, speculative office space, and are targeting LEED certification. Groundbreaking is set for this summer, with delivery targeted for Q2 2027.

First United Bank & Trust is providing construction financing. KBC Advisors will handle leasing. Powers Brown Architecture is the project architect, and Langan Engineering is the civil engineer on both sites. ULR has not disclosed the land acquisition price or total project cost.

ULR and Principal AM's Second Infill Bet in Houston

This isn't the first time ULR and Principal Asset Management have teamed up on an infill industrial in Houston, and the playbook looks nearly identical to their last move. In May 2025, the pair broke ground on The Brickyard, a 542,851 SF, three-building speculative park at 5020 Acorn Street in Northwest Houston, also financed by First United Bank & Trust. That project was targeting Q2 2026 delivery.

ULR has also built with Crow Holdings in Houston, adding a 238,200 SF industrial project to its local resume. The two new projects extend a clear thesis: spec infill industrial, close to Houston's major interchange corridors, with a consistent capital partner and lender.

North Houston: 113 Million SF and Still Absorbing

The timing lands in a market that is moving product. North Houston's industrial submarket carries roughly 113 million square feet of inventory and logged nearly 1.7 million square feet of leasing activity in Q1 2026, against 1.6 million square feet of new deliveries, according to CBRE. Houston overall posted 3.2 million square feet of net absorption that quarter, with 7.5 million square feet of new supply hitting 21 percent of it preleased.

JLL puts Houston's industrial vacancy at 7.4 percent as of Q1 2026, with average NNN rents at $10.39 per square foot, up from $9.52 a year earlier. The broader pipeline sits at 24.1 million square feet, with 25 percent preleased and 17.3 million square feet slated to deliver by year-end.

ULR's two buildings will arrive in Q2 2027 into a submarket that has absorbed supply steadily, with infill proximity to Beltway 8 and I-45 as their clearest competitive asset. KBC Advisors goes to market on both immediately.