The buyer, Investment Catalyst LLC, said it intends to hold onto the 75.9-acre property in Denison until “the market matures.”
DENISON, TEXAS — Editor's note: This article was originally published by Click here for Dallas Business Journal.
A Southlake-based land investor secured dozens of acres in a rapidly growing area of Grayson County earlier this year as global companies poured billions of dollars into nearby chip manufacturing plants.
The buyer, Investment Catalyst LLC, intends to hold on to the 75.9-acre Denison property until “the market matures,” said Kevin Eldridge, a principal with the company and affiliate Cadence Capital Partners LP. He said that.
The strategy exemplifies how companies and investors are coming together to put money into the region known as Texoma, which spans eight sparsely populated counties in Texas and Oklahoma.
Investment Catalyst closed on the land in February, but the deal was only announced on April 10th. The commercial real estate group invests primarily in Dallas-Fort Worth and has a diverse portfolio of multifamily developments, mixed-use developments, and master-planned communities. Terin Bertholf represented the investment firm and Younger Partners represented the seller, the Estate of Douglas Lee Shankles.
The purchase price was not disclosed, but Younger Executive Vice President Tyler Hemenway said in a statement that the buyer paid “a good price for the land.”
“They're putting money into growth paths and have a good exit strategy,” Hemenway said.
Richardson-based Texas Instruments Inc. and Taiwanese-owned Globitec Corp. are building a large semiconductor manufacturing plant in Sherman, about 19 miles north of Denison. As these facilities come online and attract suppliers and other businesses to Grayson County in the coming years, land values are expected to increase along with the demand for new commercial development.
“The international companies that are moving in there, we're taking advantage of their bright future,” Eldridge said.
Developments taking shape along Lake Texoma, such as David Craig's $6 billion Preston Harbor project, will transform the region's economic landscape. Preston Harbor alone could bring 20,000 residents and 15,000 jobs to the area.
“As a result, they may need an office, they may need warehouse space, they may need different things closer to home instead of having to come to the Dallas market. '' Eldridge said. “So we feel this land gives us the ability to respond and meet those needs.”
However, the investment catalyst company is unlikely to decide what to do with the land for at least 12 months.
John St. Clair, executive managing director of Younger Partners, and Davis Willoughby, representing the seller, said a number of buyers have expressed interest. Some of the land is still being sold by the estate.
It took about three months for intermediaries to gather and the deal to be finalized. Initially, the Shankle family planned to keep the land and leave it to their heirs, but they later decided to change their plans.
Willoughby said this particular parcel along Farm to Market Road 1417 represents a “major thoroughfare” that will later join the Dallas North Tollway extension. The land is adjacent to North Texas Regional Airport, a county-operated airport that serves commercial airlines.
“At this point, it's just private flights,” Eldridge said. “But we believe there's going to be a lot of commerce there because it's the closest airport to Sherman and Denison and all the big manufacturers are there.”
Additionally, this parcel is just south of Caterpillar's mining division at 3501 FM 1417. Construction and industrial equipment manufacturer Caterpillar recently announced plans to expand its office space in Irving.
“I don't think the growth has started yet,” St. Clair said. “Sherman and Dennison are really going to grow.”
