{"id":231270,"date":"2026-04-02T03:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/231270\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T03:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:55:13","slug":"fingers-crossed-middle-eastern-conflict-doesnt-obstruct-houstons-industrial-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/231270\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fingers Crossed’ Middle Eastern Conflict Doesn’t Obstruct Houston’s Industrial Momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston\u2019s industrial market has a good thing going.\u00a0Hopes are high that the Iran<\/a> conflict doesn\u2019t ruin it.<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Bisnow\/Maddy McCarty\n <\/p>\n

\n Wilson Cribbs + Goren\u2019s Anthony Marr\u00e9, Grey Wolf Engineers\u2019 Jason Atkinson, Alliance Industrial Co.\u2019s Chad Parrish, Hanover Co.\u2019s James Melody, Trammell Crow Co.\u2019s Kyle Bateman and Harvey Builders\u2019 David Rasch\n <\/p>\n

The construction industry was gaining stability after years of pandemic-initiated headwinds. But now pricing impacts are reverberating from the Middle Eastern conflict and a surge of hyperscale<\/a> data center development, Harvey Builders<\/a> partner David Rasch said at Bisnow\u2019s Houston Industrial Summit at the Hilton Houston Post Oak by the Galleria on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a lot of positive momentum across the country and in Houston,\u201d Rasch said. \u201cTo dampen that momentum would really be a shame when we’re finally getting our legs back under us after some challenges over the last five or six years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since oil prices have pushed up\u00a0fuel costs<\/a>, contractors have seen the cost of a single equipment delivery trip increase from $150 to $500, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Commercial construction materials costs had already surged 40.5%<\/a> from February 2020 to January 2025, and prices were 3.1% higher in February compared to the previous year, according to a report<\/a>\u00a0from industry trade group Associated Builders and Contractors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steel prices had been more stable early this year<\/a>, but that is being impacted by the explosion in data center development<\/a>, Rasch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data centers are taking a lot of the steel, which is in turn causing steel prices for this type of product to go up a little bit,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Houston\u2019s industrial performance provides reason to believe that everything will work out, panelists said. When deliveries broke annual records \u2014 despite price surges in the construction industry \u2014 and the market was threatened with oversupply, Houston industrial demand kept pace<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m crossing my fingers \u2026 that we get back to business as usual, because there’s a lot of positive momentum across the country and in Houston,\u201d Rasch said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Iran conflict is a challenge, but the industry has faced worse challenges in the past decade or so, he said, adding that he hopes the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, developers have figured out how to make things work despite volatility, Alliance Industrial<\/a> Co. Managing Director Chad Parrish said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are just accepting that volatility is the new normal,\u201d Parrish said. \u201cIf you believe in the market and you believe in what you’re doing, you can’t be distracted by all this volatility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Bisnow\/Maddy McCarty\n <\/p>\n

\n Ressling & Raish\u2019s Andrew Raish, Prologis\u2019 Hans Brindley, National Property Holdings\u2019 Michael Plank, Port Houston\u2019s Stephanie Sides-Sembera and E.E. Reed Construction\u2019s Shawn Anderson\n <\/p>\n

Increased costs can be made up for with higher rental rates, he said. The most important factor is demand, of which Houston continues to see plenty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s no demand, then I can\u2019t help you,\u201d Parrish said.<\/p>\n

And the numbers show that manufacturing demand has surged. In May, 34% of tenants in the market were looking for manufacturing space<\/a>, an increase from 10% a year prior, according to JLL<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[There is a] tremendous amount of manufacturing<\/a> demand,\u201d National Property Holdings CEO Michael Plank said. \u201cA lot of that is data center<\/a>-related, a lot of pure manufacturing need, a lot of onshoring<\/a>, nearshoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

These tenants find Houston\u2019s port access and labor markets appealing, he said.<\/p>\n

Big-box tenants like Amazon are also returning to the market<\/a>, creating demand for more industrial buildings in the 1M SF range<\/a> again.<\/p>\n

When tariffs negatively impacted other ports, Port Houston<\/a> saw an increase in traffic tied to nearshoring, Prologis<\/a> Market Officer Hans Brindley said,\u00a0adding it is\u00a0mutually beneficial to the port and to manufacturers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Global disruptions can actually benefit Houston because it is cheaper to develop in than other markets, Hanover Co<\/a>. development partner James Melody said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas remains a value option for a lot of firms that have a national and global scope,\u201d Melody said.<\/p>\n

The cost comparison, plus Houston making national headlines for its dynamics like leading the country in industrial absorption, continues to attract developers. There is so much going for Houston, the market is where it needs to be, Melody said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere we sit in the world, where we sit in the country, irrespective of time, place, events, we’re probably going to be better off than most,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we’re going to operate with that assumption.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston\u2019s industrial market has a good thing going.\u00a0Hopes are high that the Iran conflict doesn\u2019t ruin it. Bisnow\/Maddy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[89443,89444,89439,89445,24768,89440,88615,56,58,59161,57,24775,15275,89442,89441,17906,10986,89438],"class_list":{"0":"post-231270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-alliance-industrial","9":"tag-alliance-industrial-co","10":"tag-chad-parrish","11":"tag-david-rasch","12":"tag-hanover-co","13":"tag-hans-brindley","14":"tag-harvey-builders","15":"tag-houston","16":"tag-houston-headlines","17":"tag-houston-industrial","18":"tag-houston-news","19":"tag-james-melody","20":"tag-manufacturing","21":"tag-michael-plank","22":"tag-national-property-holdings","23":"tag-onshoring","24":"tag-port-houston","25":"tag-prologis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}