Wind requires different real estate
(Industrial : Abilene) 5/26/2009
With the scramble toward alternative energy focusing on solar power and natural gas, wind energy is also starting to take its place as a viable, natural source. As a result, Abilene is becoming the target location for wind-oriented companies that need space.
A local group, the Abilene Industrial Foundation, has constructed 100,000 sf of speculative space for wind-related businesses.
Meanwhile, KBS Real Estate Investment Trust, Hackman Capital Partners and Calare Properties joined forces to buy and develop the 100-acre WindStar Industrial Center at 1000 E. I-20. One company, Neo Energy Solutions Inc. signed a lease for 68,000 sf in April.
Though space needed to host the wind companies isn't vastly different from the regular run-of-the-mill industrial space, there are some specifications that need to be considered. "The space needs to have bay depth and distance to be able to take in, for example, those turbines and other huge elements," John Root, senior vice president with Hackman Capital Partners, said. "They also tend to be heavier on outdoor storage, which is less of a problem in Texas." Plenty of access to electrical power is also important.
Then there is the proximity to transportation infrastructure. "Road access is essential," Root says. "The fewer turns, the better."
The Abilene Industrial Foundation is trying to put wind companies in large existing facilities. Energy Inc. last year opened a wind energy maintenance and service center in a 300,000-sf facility that once belonged to Lockheed Martin.
Those primary and secondary space users are likely to descend on Abilene within the next one to two decades as the wind industry grows in West Texas. The Texas Public Utilities Commission recently approved $5 billion in infrastructure development for transmission lines, and those lines are going to be built from the Texas Panhandle to the coastal areas to link into the power grid.
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