01/12/16 11:30am

MOVING FORWARD WITHOUT TENANTS ON 1.5 MILLION SQ.FT. OF WAREHOUSE SPACE IN BAYTOWN Cedar Port Distribution I Location“It’s all about rail,” Robert Clay tells Cara Smith of the HBJ — despite having no tenants lined up, Clay Development plans to begin construction this month on the first of 3 500,000-plus-change-sq.ft. railcar-friendly warehouses on Borusan Rd., southwest of the Grand Pkwy.’s Cedar Bayou crossing. Clay purchased the 80-acre section of Baytown’s Cedar Crossing Industrial Park (the Gulf Coast’s largest industrial park, at 3/4ths the size of Manhattan) at the end of December. Clay’s economic predictions are “more optimistic for 2016” than they were for last year —  Low natural gas prices have fueled a $35-billion plastics and petrochemical boom along the Gulf Coast, and storage demand could increase thanks to the expansion of the Panama Canal. The building could be finished by August. [HBJ, Houston Chronicle] Map of proposed distribution facility location: Clay Development