Formaspace finds a bigger home
Dec 4, 2009
Austin Business Journal
After spending the past several months searching for space to accommodate a growing company, Hutto-based Formaspace Technical Furniture has signed a lease in Northeast Austin — representing one of the area’s largest industrial leases this year.
Formaspace, makers of industrial workbenches, worktables and laboratory furniture, has signed a lease for 56,700 square feet in Harris Ridge Business Center at the northeast corner of Howard Lane and Harris Ridge Boulevard. That industrial development spans 395,000 square feet. The project’s developer, Capital City Partners Inc., completed Phase I in spring 2008.
“We were able to offer Formaspace a new facility, built out to their exact specifications at a competitive rate with a timeline that was pinpointed to the last detail,” said Robert Shore, leasing agent with AQUILA Commercial. Shore, along with Aquila Principals Mike Murphy and Chad Barrett, represented the landlord in the transaction. Formaspace did its own negotiating.
The new lease enables the company to add new employees and equipment, and to take advantage of a taxing designation created for manufacturers.
Capital City Partners Principal Chris Whitworth said Formaspace is in a position to benefit from Harris Ridge’s status as a “triple freeport” tax-exempt property. The designation means tenant businesses don’t have to pay property taxes on inventory that leaves the state within 175 days.
“The freeport tax exemption is designed for companies like Formaspace, and it’s just one more reason the company should flourish in its new location,” Whitworth said.
For Formaspace, which plans to move from its 30,000-square-foot Hutto home before its current lease expires in June 2010, the move means the ability to grow from 42 employees now to about 70 during the next couple of years, CEO Jeff Turk said. The company will also invest in new machinery and new manufacturing methods in an effort to shorten delivery times from a one-to-10-day window to a one-to-three-day shipping time.
Turk said adding space, employees and new equipment will help the company secure larger clients and broaden its capabilities. He added that with the new space the company will be better able to showcase its products as it gains larger clients.
“AQUILA and Capital City Partners shared our vision, understood our needs, and were able to work with us to sign a deal that will help enable Formaspace’s future growth,” Turk said. “We are really blessed to have investors, clients and partners who are as focused on opportunities to take advantage of the current challenging economic environment as we are.”
Formaspace’s business strategies haven’t gone unnoticed. In August, the company appeared on Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list for the third year in a row. And its workbenches are featured on the Discovery Channel series “Prototype This,” and will soon be featured on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Meanwhile, the company has seen sales increase 74 percent from 2005 to 2008, with revenues reaching $7.3 million in 2008.
For the industrial real estate sector, Formaspace’s new lease is noteworthy also.
At nearly 57,000 square feet, the lease is one of the Austin area’s three largest industrial leases this year, in terms of size, said Mark Milstead, an industrial specialist with NAI Austin.
Milstead said that while there are some potential deals that could consume more industrial space in 2010, the coming year could remain somewhat slow in terms of the number of deals.
Formaspace, makers of industrial workbenches, worktables and laboratory furniture, has signed a lease for 56,700 square feet in Harris Ridge Business Center at the northeast corner of Howard Lane and Harris Ridge Boulevard. That industrial development spans 395,000 square feet. The project’s developer, Capital City Partners Inc., completed Phase I in spring 2008.
“We were able to offer Formaspace a new facility, built out to their exact specifications at a competitive rate with a timeline that was pinpointed to the last detail,” said Robert Shore, leasing agent with AQUILA Commercial. Shore, along with Aquila Principals Mike Murphy and Chad Barrett, represented the landlord in the transaction. Formaspace did its own negotiating.
The new lease enables the company to add new employees and equipment, and to take advantage of a taxing designation created for manufacturers.
Capital City Partners Principal Chris Whitworth said Formaspace is in a position to benefit from Harris Ridge’s status as a “triple freeport” tax-exempt property. The designation means tenant businesses don’t have to pay property taxes on inventory that leaves the state within 175 days.
“The freeport tax exemption is designed for companies like Formaspace, and it’s just one more reason the company should flourish in its new location,” Whitworth said.
For Formaspace, which plans to move from its 30,000-square-foot Hutto home before its current lease expires in June 2010, the move means the ability to grow from 42 employees now to about 70 during the next couple of years, CEO Jeff Turk said. The company will also invest in new machinery and new manufacturing methods in an effort to shorten delivery times from a one-to-10-day window to a one-to-three-day shipping time.
Turk said adding space, employees and new equipment will help the company secure larger clients and broaden its capabilities. He added that with the new space the company will be better able to showcase its products as it gains larger clients.
“AQUILA and Capital City Partners shared our vision, understood our needs, and were able to work with us to sign a deal that will help enable Formaspace’s future growth,” Turk said. “We are really blessed to have investors, clients and partners who are as focused on opportunities to take advantage of the current challenging economic environment as we are.”
Formaspace’s business strategies haven’t gone unnoticed. In August, the company appeared on Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list for the third year in a row. And its workbenches are featured on the Discovery Channel series “Prototype This,” and will soon be featured on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Meanwhile, the company has seen sales increase 74 percent from 2005 to 2008, with revenues reaching $7.3 million in 2008.
For the industrial real estate sector, Formaspace’s new lease is noteworthy also.
At nearly 57,000 square feet, the lease is one of the Austin area’s three largest industrial leases this year, in terms of size, said Mark Milstead, an industrial specialist with NAI Austin.
Milstead said that while there are some potential deals that could consume more industrial space in 2010, the coming year could remain somewhat slow in terms of the number of deals.
