Rockefeller Group completes, sells first Houston-area project in Baytown

January 13, 2026

The company behind the iconic office and retail complex Rockefeller Center in New York City has completed its first development in the Houston area and sold it.

Rockefeller Group, in partnership with Falcon Commercial Development, broke ground on East Bay Trade Center at 19454 Needlepoint Road in Baytown in December 2024 and completed it last September. It sold the 557,334-square-foot project to Houston-based specialty crating company Gulf Coast Crating Inc. on Dec. 5, Rockefeller told the Houston Business Journal. The company's director of Southwest development, Cavanaugh Adams, declined to disclose the development cost and sales price.

Robert McGee, Taylor Schmidt and Austin Bartula of Colliers represented the seller, and Patrick McKeirnan of First Houston Properties represented the buyer.

East Bay Trade Center's two buildings span 307,595 and 249,744 square feet. Both cross-dock warehouses have 36-foot clear heights. The larger building features 68 dock doors with four grade-level ramps, and 94 trailer- and 176 car-parking spots, while the other has 53 dock doors, and 72 trailer- and 127 car-parking spots.

Houston-based Munson & Associates designed the project. The civil engineer was Waneck Civil Engineering, also based in Houston, and the general contractor was Chicago-based FCL Builders, which has a Houston office.

Gulf Coast Crating moved into the entire development at closing, Adams said. The Houston-based company packs materials for export. Gulf Coat Crating also has two transload facilities in Baytown and one in La Porte, plus offices in Dallas and New Orleans, according to its website.

The deal comes as Houston's industrial vacancy rate has climbed for three consecutive quarters, reaching 7.2% in the first days of 2026, as absorption slowed to its weakest pace since 2012 and more new projects hit the market, according to CoStar Group (NYSE: CSGP). As in the office market, many companies are leaving older industrial facilities for new Class A developments. Leasing activity remains about 45% above the 2015-2019 annual average of 32 million square feet, before the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in demand for distribution centers, per CoStar.

In the Baytown area, leasing volume in 2025 reached 2.7 million square feet, nearly triple its 2015-2019 annual average.

“Baytown is well positioned to capture the next wave of industrial expansion as port activity continues to grow, supply chain investment continues, and tenants continue searching for large contiguous blocks of space near key transportation corridors,” said Itziar Aguirre, senior director of market analytics at CoStar in Houston.

Rockefeller expanded to Texas with the opening of a Houston office in fall 2023 and the hiring of Philip Croker as senior managing director and head of the company’s new Southwest region, which includes Texas and Arizona. It opened an office in Dallas in February 2024.

In December 2024, the company broke ground on its first two Texas projects: East Bay Trade Center in Baytown and an apartment complex in Katy, the 298-unit Hudson Crossing. The apartment project, at 23933 Kingsland Blvd., is still under construction. The first 100 units are expected to open in April with the remaining complex slated to be complete in October.

Rockefeller also has two industrial projects under construction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The 319,347-square-foot McKinney Commerce Center in McKinney recently pre-leased about half of one of the project’s three buildings, the Dallas Business Journal reported. A four-building, 788,000-square-foot project, Valley View Logistics Park, recently broke ground in Irving, Adams said.

Rockefeller is actively pursuing more industrial and multifamily projects in the Dallas and Houston areas, he said.