Warehouse activity along Kirby Drive just hit another gear. Hanover Co. has wrapped construction on a 213,425-square-foot cross-dock warehouse in South Houston, while local developer Welcome Group is teeing up a 25-acre industrial campus a few miles down the road in Pearland. The tandem moves highlight a renewed wave of speculative industrial building along the SH-288 corridor as developers chase port access and nearby labor. Both projects were disclosed in industry reporting on Monday.
Hanover announced the delivery of Kirby 288, a 213,425-square-foot cross-dock facility at 12150 Kirby Drive in South Houston. The project is listed at the same address and square footage on Hanover Co.'s property page. Development partner James Melody described the building as "disciplined industrial development" in a company statement, according to Bisnow.
Kirby 288's specs and leasing
Kirby 288 was delivered with 36-foot clear heights, a 360-foot building depth, 48 dock-high doors, four drive-in ramps and bays that can be divided down to about 53,000 square feet, according to the property's listing on LoopNet. That marketing sheet shows the project as "shell complete" and names Colliers brokers Robert McGee, Taylor Schmidt and Austin Bartula as leasing contacts. The specs put the building squarely in the mix for large logistics or cross-dock tenants that care about shaving minutes off truck turns.
Lower Kirby Business Park: a 25-acre campus in Pearland
A few miles south, Welcome Group is lining up a ground-up play in Pearland. The firm plans to develop Lower Kirby Business Park on a 25-acre site at 15020 Kirby Drive, with more than 250,000 square feet spread across four buildings aimed at users from roughly 25,000 to 100,000 square feet. The company said the site plan allows for future expansion and that KDW will lead phase one construction, which is slated to begin later this quarter, with availability targeted for the second quarter of 2027. Those details and Welcome Group's statement on the project were reported by Bisnow.
Why developers are still building here
Houston's industrial appetite remains robust, driven by port-related freight and a dense distribution network that rewards well-located infill sites. As Commercial Property Executive notes, market data from Yardi Matrix and others have kept Houston among the top metros for industrial deliveries, encouraging both national and local players to keep rolling out speculative and build-to-suit product. The SH-288 corridor's direct lines to the Port of Houston and Beltway 8 help explain the concentration of new projects south of downtown.
Leasing and next steps
Preleasing for Lower Kirby Business Park is being handled by Welcome Realty Advisors. The LoopNet listing for the site identifies Cole Bercher and Ryan Wasaff as contacts. Colliers is marketing space at Kirby 288, where the property's LoopNet page lists Robert McGee and colleagues as the leasing team. Developers expect interest from mid-to-large users that prioritize quick access to highways and port logistics, a sweet spot both projects are clearly targeting.
