The transformation of the Montrose/Heights border area will soon be complete.
After 100 years on Washington Avenue, the Detering Co. has sold all of its prime near-downtown property and relocated to north Houston.
The Houston-based building materials supply company had occupied 5.4 acres of land and some 70,000 square feet of headquarters space at 3028 Washington just east of Studemont. The acreage was divided into three properties and sold to three buyers, according to J. Michael Boyd, principal of Boyd Commercial/CORFAC International, who represented the Detering Co. in the sales.
Luxury homebuilder Sullivan Brothers Builders purchased a small parcel at 2900 Hicks. Dallas-based apartment developer JLB Partners bought almost 3 acres at 3028 Center. And the remaining site fronting Washington Avenue site is scheduled to close at the end of the month. Boyd declined to disclose the final buyer before the sale became final.
The redevelopment of the Detering site is indicative of the land use changes underway in this part of Houston, where many properties have gone from industrial to retail or residential.
The shift has been building for many years, with some of the most recent deals including the sale of the Grocers Supply tract on Studemont and a 21-acre nearby site occupied by floor manufacturer Tarkett USA.
Detering recently moved to its new facility, 107,000 square feet on a 19-acre site at 6800 Helmers near Irvington and the North Loop. Sellers were Quasar Land and Irvington Holdings. The company demolished a building on the property. Detering is also renovating a 25,000-square-foot building on the property that it plans to occupy as well.
The move was compelled by Detering’s growth plans and a “disjointed” Washington Avenue facility that included multiple buildings, said Boyd, who also represented the company in its expansion and relocation.
The Washington property had been held by the Detering family since the early 1900s, when Herman Detering ran a grocery store there. His son, Carl, opened the building supply company on the land in 1926.
See here, here, and here for other examples of this kind of change in the area. I’ll be interested to see what this eventually gets named. The area between Washington Avenue and I-10 has always been kind of a no-man’s land, neither Montrose nor Heights. That was as much due to the non-residential nature of the place as anything. With that changing, we’ll see how that gets reflected in the name. My guess is it’ll be Something Heights because pretty much everything else has been named that way, but maybe they’ll surprise me. Prime Property has more.