Growing food distribution firm builds on appetite for expansion

Glazier Foods Co. is being well-served by the local economy.
The Houston food distributor has moved a planned expansion to the front burner faster than expected to handle gastronomical growth. The company's diverse buffet line of customers includes restaurants, country clubs, nursing homes and a variety of other businesses.
John Miller, chief financial officer of Glazier Foods, says job growth in the area is feeding the company's bottom line. He says Houston residents who may be pinching pennies have not yet adversely affected Glazier and its customers.
"All these people are eating," Miller says. "There are more gross dollars spent in food service versus retail."
To achieve set expansion goals, the Glazier family partnership entered into a deal where Houston-based GSL Welcome Group LLC and GE Capital acquired the company's existing facility and will build the additional square footage the company needs.
The family partnership sold the 286,000-square-foot building on 33 acres to GSL in mid-June for an undisclosed amount, and is leasing the property back from the new landlord.
As part of the arrangement, GSL will build a $14 million, 160,000-square-foot addition to Glazier's structure at 11303 Antoine Drive, just north of Beltway 8.
Real estate sources say sale/leaseback arrangements provide companies with an avenue to free up capital and earn a higher return compared to ownership of real estate.
In Glazier's case, Miller says, the arrangement made the expansion possible without putting a strain on the operating company or necessitating the need to raise additional capital from family members.
National interest
Glazier hired Yancey-Hausman Commercial Real Estate Services LLC a year ago to find a buyer for the property.
"We had tremendous interest from all over the nation," says Pat Pollan, a senior vice president at Yancey-Hausman.
Pollan says GSL outbid a field that included real estate investment trusts on the New York Stock Exchange and large investment groups from California. He says one of the losing bidders wanted the deal so badly that representatives asked Glazier to reconsider awarding the business to GSL.
Welcome Wilson Jr., president of GSL, says this deal fits perfectly into his company's business model. GSL builds and acquires single-tenant industrial buildings with the intention of owning them for the long term.
"It's a substantial building for our portfolio," Wilson says.
GSL plans to break ground on the Glazier expansion in about a month, with completion scheduled in nine months. The project will add freezer space on the northeast end of the building and dry storage space on other end.
Once the build-out is complete, Glazier will have 446,000 square feet of space.
The 72-year-old firm is experiencing growth throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Glazier Foods leased 170,000 square feet in the Dallas area last year to accommodate growth in North Texas.
In 2005 the firm consolidated local operations from five facilities into one state-of-the-art building on Antoine.
Houston-based W.M. Dillard & Associates LP designed the initial building, and at the time, drew up plans for a phase two expansion, which was expected to happen some time between 2010 and 2012.
Glazier's Miller says the company is ready for the next helping of growth.
"We wanted to be proactive and be prepared for future opportunities by having the space," says Miller. for more information see: www.houstonrealtyadvisors.com or www.houstonrealtyadvisors.net