| FEATURE ARTICLE, JULY 2005
AS THE CROW FLIES
Trammell Crow Company continues its successful development at DFW International Airport with an innovative cargo facility.
Kevin Jeselnik
Dallas-based Trammell Crow Company has undertaken an expansive new project at the west cargo area of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport, where the company has a long history of successful development. Trammell Crow has been actively developing airport properties at DFW International, the third busiest airport in the world in terms of operations and ninth busiest in the United States in terms of cargo, since the 1980s. Upon completion of its newest venture, Trammell Crow will have developed 21 projects totaling more than 4.6 million square feet around DFW International.
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The Trammell Crow Company Airfreight & LogisticsCentre (pictured) and the Trammell Crow Company International Air CargoCentre III are underway at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and are scheduled to be complete in September. The airfreight distribution and processing facilities will total approximately 395,000 square feet at the west cargo area of the airport.
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The multi-phase project, which broke ground in March with construction of Phase I, will total approximately 395,000 square feet of air cargo, logistics, freight-forwarding office and warehouse space with direct access to the airport tarmac. The project is getting underway after 5 years of planning. “The project took a considerable amount of time [to plan] because on-airport development is a more difficult endeavor than typical commercial real estate ventures,” says Steven Bradford, a principal with Trammell Crow Company, and head of its Global Airport Development Initiative. “For airport developments, everything has to be approved not only by the airport, but by the Federal Aviation Administration.” Once the necessary planning and approvals were finished, Trammell Crow wasted no time on the development of Phase I.
The new 35-acre development will include two separate properties, the Trammell Crow Company International Air CargoCentre III and the Trammell Crow Company AirFreight & LogisticsCentre. It will be the first air cargo facility designed specifically to accommodate both the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-400F freighter aircraft.
The first phase comprises the Air CargoCentre III and the AirFreight & LogisticsCentre 1 and 2. It is on-schedule and expected to conclude in the fall. The second phase of the master-planned development provides for an expansion to the Air CargoCentre and the development of the AirFreight & LogisticsCentre 3 and is expected to begin in 2006.
The project is designed to create an air cargo facility that more efficiently moves freight by bringing the entire process as close to the airport as possible. With this development, that means bringing all components right into the airport. The various buildings will work together to provide a streamlined flow of work for the many entities involved in the shipping of airfreight.
“The Air CargoCentre III is an industrial facility designed to process fast and efficient distribution of airfreight,” Bradford explains. “In order to do that, it needs to have direct ramp access to which the freighter aircraft can pull up, be unloaded of its freight and then immediately reloaded with outgoing cargo.” Therefore, the approximately 120,000-square-foot Air CargoCentre III is located directly adjacent to the tarmac and includes 347,652 square feet of airport apron space for freighter aircrafts to taxi right up to the distribution space.
At the Air CargoCentre III, ingoing and outgoing freight can be processed, broken down to be shipped by air or ground transportation, checked by customs, and sent on its way all at in-house facilities. The result is a markedly more efficient process for the freight airlines and their logistics providers. This greatly reduces the amount of work and transportation time otherwise involved in unloading the cargo at the airport, transporting it to a warehouse off site and then breaking it down to be shipped to the final destination. The cargo facility will also have office space for the airline and its sales staff, and its logistics provider. Worldwide Flight Services, an independent airline with freighter services, has already signed a lease for approximately 75,000 square feet of cargo warehouse and office space, and approximately 140,000 square feet of aircraft apron space.
An enduring idea of the entire development is greater efficiency through streamlined transportation operations, Bradford says. “The overall design of the Air CargoCentre III places a greater emphasis on ground access. It will have two points of ingress and egress, whereas the other facilities (CargoCentres I and II), because of their location at the end of a road, share just one point of entry in and out.”
The AirFreight & LogisticsCentre is located immediately adjacent to the Air CargoCentre III. It was designed specifically to accommodate users that complement the freighter airlines and distribution companies that will occupy the Air CargoCentre III. The logical users include airlines that do not have freighter operations but do have a freight component to its overall operations. “The AirFreight & LogisticsCentre would be a great facility for these airlines because they do not need the apron area to park a cargo freighter,” Bradford says. “They just need an area where the freight can be prepared for shipment.”
The AirFreight & LogisticsCentre will consist of three buildings totaling approximately 280,000 square feet. It will primarily appeal to logistics and freight forwarding companies, those secondary companies involved in the shipping and distribution of airfreight that have typically been located in industrial locations removed from the airport. “It’s great for these companies because its proximity to the Air CargoCentre III allows them to lower overall operating costs by reducing shipping charges and time associated with getting freight to and from the aircraft. It’s a facility designed to create synergies and encourage volume on the aircraft that are being operated out of the Air CargoCentre III,” Bradford adds.
Both centers are created to accommodate multiple users with flexible layouts; the AirFreight & LogisticsCentre could house many tenants or one user over all three buildings. A manned AOA (Airfield Operations Area) Gate is being constructed as well, which will allow for the efficient flow of freight between the facilities. According to Bradford, “It’s basically a security checkpoint through which anything and everything that comes into the secured area of the airport will have to pass.”
With the first phase of the project on track for its scheduled September occupancy date and a major tenant already signed, it seems Trammell Crow has developed an innovative industrial project that will greatly enhance the air cargo community surrounding DFW International. The industry has illustrated strong growth internationally, notes Bradford, but nowhere has it been more obvious than at DFW International. “This airport is exceptionally well located within North America; you can very easily access the central United States via ground transportation. The existing buildings are 100 percent occupied and tenants continue to demonstrate strong growth. We have absolute confidence in the prospective growth at DFW International, and that is why we decided to go ahead with this project.”
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