A Houston-based commercial real estate firm is angling to break ground soon on its first Austin-area project in San Marcos. It comes about a year and a half after the company first broke into the Austin market with the acquisition of a major logistics park across the street. Triten Real Estate Partners on June 9 announced plans to build 2651 Leah Avenue, a 175,000-squarefoot, shallow-bay industrial development on 12 acres in the booming city between Austin and San Antonio. It's right across from the Central Texas Logistics Center in San Marcos that Triten acquired back in 2024.

Construction is expected to begin in late 2026 and be completed in mid-2027.

"I think the growth story of Austin is super attractive at a wholistic level," Triten's Keith Gabrielson said on June 9. "There is a lot of active capital that wants to be in there, given the advanced manufacturing
coming into the market, the technology that's coming into the market. It has a very good growth story. We just want to follow the path of growth as it moves south along I-35."

Triten was launched in 2011, and is vertically integrated with a focus on real estate investment, development and operations. It has additional o\ices in Dallas and Atlanta, and operates nationally, although most of the focus is in Texas and the rest of the southeast. Gabrielson said his team was interested in its first ground-up build in the Austin area based on the success of the Central Texas Logistics Center. It has remained near 100% leased since it was acquired by Triten.

"It's performed well and held occupancy well since our acquisition," Gabrielson said. The new project is slated to include two Class A industrial buildings for tenants seeking spaces of less than 15,000 square feet. The buildings will include enhanced o\ice finishes, energy-e\icient building systems and institutional-quality site design, according to a news release. Buildings have 140-foot depths, 28-foot clear heights, dock-high and grade-level loading, and suites averaging approximately 11,000 square feet. It's also less than one mile from Interstate 35, and proximate to distribution centers like Amazon.com Inc.'s nearby warehouse and distribution center.

Entities tied to Triten on May 29 acquired the land earmarked for the project from entities tied to San Diego-based Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. The land is valued at $2.4 million.HPI Real Estate Services & Investments' Davis Bass, Brooks Benkendorfer and Will Thomas are handling leasing. Burton Construction is the general contractor, Westwood is the civil engineer and Method Architecture is the architect.

Triten said the development addresses a shortage of modern shallow-bay industrial space in the submarket, which is being driven by population growth, e-commerce activity and supply chain diversification along the I-35 corridor. That makes sense for San Marcos, which is about 30 miles south of Austin and has a population of 78,000, and is aiming to bring in more industrial development. Data from Houston-based Partners Real Estate found the vacancy rate among flex industrial
development was 19.9% in Hays County as of the first quarter, right around the market-wide rate of 14.3%. But there was only 162,950 square feet under construction.

"I think it's leaning into the growth corridor of San Antonio and Austin and being able to serve both metros from one location. You get the blend of that capability but then you also have a booming local San Marcos economy as well," Gabrielson said. "That has been the core of our thesis along the I-35 corridor." Gabrielson said the biggest challenge with the project is that Austin has the most topography of all the large Texas metro areas, a barrier during construction. But also coming from the Houston area, where there is no zoning, the entitlement work required on projects is di\erent.

"That is an inherent challenge when comparing it to a Houston. But I will say the city (of San Marcos) has been great to work with. I think they are very much pro-business and have been super helpful throughout the process," he said. As for what's next for Triten, Gabrielson said the company is going to continue its e\orts to grow across
all its verticals in Austin, whether that's ground-up development, acquisitions and industrial outdoor storage.

"We're continuing to always look for those opportunities and really try to capture the whole gamut of industrial product," he said.