FreezPak, BG Capital to build Houston-area cold storage

FreezPak Logistics and its real estate investment partner plan to construct a cold storage facility just outside the Houston area in Baytown, Texas.

New Jersey-based FreezPak and BG Capital, based in Philadelphia, acquired the 30.7-acre site near the Port of Houston, in the Cedar Port Industrial Park, for roughly $9 million through their joint-venture firm BGFP International. The company expects to break ground this month on the first phase of the project, which includes a 281,849-sq.-ft. temperature-controlled warehouse and a total capital investment estimated to be around $102 million that will be leased solely by FreezPak on a long-term lease agreement, BGFP said.

The site also can accommodate a second phase that would increase total building size to 547,083 sq. ft.

This is the partnership’s second greenfield cold storage facility. BGFP broke ground late last year on a 171,117-sq.-ft. cold-storage site in Philadelphia the company says will be the first of its kind in the market when it opens in Q4.

The two-phase Houston project could accommodate a total of 141 trailer parking stalls, 64 truck stalls, three rail bays, and 131 spots for additional car parking. The total facility would have a 67-ft. clear height with 408,213 sq. ft. of freezer space and 110,142 sq. ft. of temperature-controlled cooler dock for a total as-complete building size of 547,083 sq. ft., BGFP said. The building is designed to install a fully automated ASRS automated storage and retrieval system in a portion of the building and also will include blast freezing, cross docking, transportation, repacking, and overseas container plug-in.

FreezPak Houston will be in proximity to Route 99, Route 146, Route 225, I-10 and only 13.7-mile drive from the Port of Houston and contain direct rail access to the facilities cold dock.

This project will be FreezPak’s largest known facility to date and one of the most technically advanced Class A cold-storage industrial facilities within the country.