Wisconsin-based Kohler Co., a manufacturer of bathtubs, sinks and faucets, could expand its operations significantly in North Texas with the help of a new 1.3 million-square-foot distribution facility in DeSoto, which, upon being built, will sit about 15 miles south of downtown Dallas.
This could more than double the manufacturer's distribution operations in an existing facility totaling 651,500 square feet of industrial space at 951 Garden Ridge Parkway in Flower Mound. The existing building in Flower Mound is owned by Prologis Inc. (NYSE: PLD).
JLL Managing Director Terry Darrow agrees, adding that southern Dallas County has an edge in the market.
"Things are going great down in southern Dallas County," Darrow said. "There are a few big deals knocking around the market and this part of the region offers lower operating expenses and the ability to be closer to a distribution center."
What’s going on in DeSoto? There’s a lot of good stuff. Everybody knows us for industrial, so let’s start there. Hillwood is building a 940,000-square-foot site. Prologis has a 1.3-million-square-foot site. They just signed a long-term lease. The South Dallas County market is the hottest market in the United States. Solar Turbines Inc. in DeSoto just did a $45 million expansion — $20 million in construction and $25 million in equipment, which will mean 35 additional jobs, primarily in engineering. Solar Turbines — one of our greatest corporate citizens — just granted land to the city and chamber of commerce to do a mixed-use development, and we (economic development) are going to move in there with the chamber of commerce. We’re going through the design phase of that right now.
DeSoto will always have a soft spot in my heart... It's where I grew up! My family spent about 25 years in DeSoto. It was a small town of about 5000 when we first moved there. Things really started to heat up when the Superconducting Supercollider was announced. Many people associated with the project made DeSoto home. Big beautiful neighborhoods started to sprout up, gated communities, a recognized school district, retail started to follow. It was a great place to live as a kid. Very safe community! The DeSoto of today faintly resembles the city I grew up in, but I still champion the progress they're making.
Online sales giant Amazon has quietly purchased a development site in southern Dallas County with plans for a tech-related operation.
The Seattle-based firm’s Amazon Data Services acquired the more than 9-acre vacant tract off Hampton Road south of Interstate 20 in DeSoto, county records show. The property was acquired from a California investor that that had held the land for more than eight years.