Construction has begun on the first two industrial buildings at the Dallas Logistics Hub (DLH), a 6000 acre multi-modal logistics park, which will provide more than 827,000 square feet of new industrial space for lease in south-east Dallas County.

DLH Building 1, a 635,000 square-foot cross-dock distribution facility, and DLH Building 2, a 192,850 square-foot warehouse facility, will both be available for occupancy in April 2008.

The DLH is being billed as the largest new logistics park under development in North America, with 6000 acres of land and the potential for 60 million square feet of distribution, manufacturing and retail development.

Developers and economic planners hope the project will help position Dallas as the number-one trade hub in the south west and serve as the primary pipeline for the distribution of goods throughout the US.

The Allen Group project’s development team also includes GSO Architects as architects and structural engineers; Kimley-Horn & Associates as civil engineers; and MYCON and 3i Construction as general contractors.

“The Dallas Logistics Hub is open for business,” said Daniel J McAuliffe, president of Allen Development of Texas. “The Hub has quickly emerged as the prime logistics location in north Texas because of its strategic access to rail, intermodal and highway infrastructure.”

The Dallas Logistics Hub is adjacent to Union Pacific’s Southern Dallas Intermodal Terminal, a proposed BNSF intermodal facility, four major highway connectors (I-20, I-45, I-35 and Loop 9) and Lancaster Airport, which is in the masterplanning stage to facilitate air-cargo distribution.

The Hub is intended to serve as a major inland port by receiving products from the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Houston and the new deep-water ports in western Mexico for regional and national distribution.

The Allen Group, a San Diego-based privately held commercial development firm, specialises in the development of high-end industrial, office, retail and mixed-use properties throughout the US.

The company’s major focus is the development of logistics parks — ‘inland ports’ — that are situated adjacent to some of the most sophisticated rail, intermodal and highway infrastructure in the country.

The Allen Group has developed more than $1bn-worth of projects ranging in sizes up to 1.7 million square feet and currently has more than 8000 acres under development across the US.