Beyond Dallas: A Business Owner’s Guide to Choosing the Right Dallas-Area Industrial Location
A Strategic Guide for Manufacturing, Distribution, and Industrial Business Owners
Brent Pennington CCIM, Metroport Commercial Group, eXp Commercial
Once a business owner decides that North Texas may be the right place to relocate or expand an industrial operation, the next question often sounds simple: Where should we locate? The answer is rarely as simple as Dallas, Plano, McKinney, Garland, or Sherman.
The Dallas side of the North Texas industrial market contains several very different operating environments. A location that works extremely well for a distribution company may be a poor choice for a precision manufacturer. A mature industrial building in Garland may serve one business better than a newer building in McKinney. A company expecting substantial growth may decide that locating farther north today is preferable so they can get some extra acreage rather than relocating again seven years from now.
That is why this guide is not intended to be a market report. Vacancy, rental rates, construction pipelines, and available buildings matter, but they change. More importantly, those numbers do not tell a business owner where the company belongs.
Which part of the Dallas area best supports the way your business actually operates?
That means looking at labor, freight, customers, suppliers, power, building functionality, zoning, land requirements, expansion potential, and the long-term direction of the business before looking at individual properties.
Key Takeaways
- The Dallas area is not one industrial market. In fact in Plano alone there are five different industrial and technology parks. Different corridors support very different operating strategies.
- A company’s workforce, freight patterns, power requirements, customers, suppliers, and expansion plans should help determine geography before available properties determine the decision.
- Moving farther from Dallas can provide land and expansion advantages, but distance can introduce workforce, infrastructure, commute, and operational trade-offs.
- Older industrial markets should not automatically be viewed as inferior to newer ones. For many businesses, location and functionality matter more than building age.
- The best industrial location is not necessarily the lowest-cost location. It is the location where the total operating equation works best for the business.
Dallas-Area Industrial Locations at a Glance
| If Your Business Prioritizes… | Start by Considering… | Investigate Carefully… |
| Dallas customers particularly in the financial and professional sectors. | Dallas Urban Core | Building functionality, operating costs, yards, expansion |
| Freight, intermodal access, and large-scale distribution | South Dallas / I-20-I-45 Logistics Belt | Workforce alignment and whether logistics advantages actually benefit your operation |
| Established manufacturing infrastructure, facilities, and workforce | Garland / Mesquite | Building age, power, loading, truck circulation, expansion |
| Technical workforce and mature North Dallas support access | Richardson / Legacy North Dallas | Land cost, outside storage, building functionality, future expansion |
| Skilled labor and northern population and business growth | Plano / Allen / McKinney | Industrial availability, land competition, cost, operational restrictions |
| Land, ownership, future expansion, and long-term site control | Outer US-75 Corridor | Utilities, power, infrastructure timing, workforce depth |
These are not simply six places to search for industrial buildings. They represent six different operating strategies.
Proximity -> Freight -> Established Manufacturing -> Technical Workforce -> Growth -> Expansion
The right starting point depends on which of those factors creates the greatest value for your business.
1. Dallas Urban Core: When Proximity Matters
There is nothing inherently wrong with locating an industrial business in Dallas. The mistake is assuming that Dallas is automatically the right location because the company wants to operate in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.
For some businesses, proximity is extremely valuable. A contractor serving customers throughout Dallas County may need rapid access to job sites. A service-industrial company may depend upon employees living in established Dallas neighborhoods. An office support supplier may need to be close to customers rather than an interstate highway 30 miles away.
Dallas also provides access to an extensive highway network and a large labor and customer base. In those cases, an infill Dallas location can provide an operating advantage that is difficult to reproduce farther from the urban core.
The Trade-Off
There are exceptions of newer development but much of Dallas’s industrial inventory was developed for an earlier generation of users. Depending on the property, a business may encounter lower clear heights, smaller truck courts, limited trailer parking, older electrical systems, excessive office finish, limited outside storage, or sites with little ability to expand.
But older does not automatically mean obsolete. An older building ten minutes from your customers and workforce can be substantially more valuable to your business than a modern building 35 miles away. The question is whether the building works.
Particularly Worth Considering When
Your business depends heavily upon customer proximity, workforce accessibility, service territory, infill distribution, or central positioning within Dallas.
Potential Friction
Land-intensive operations, large yards, significant truck activity, zoning restrictions, specialized manufacturing requirements, and future physical expansion can become increasingly difficult.
Three Questions to Ask
- What does being in Dallas actually save us operationally?
- Are we accepting building limitations because the location creates enough business value to justify them?
- If we grow substantially, can this location accommodate us or are we simply postponing another location?
2. South Dallas and the I-20 / I-45 Logistics Belt: When Freight Drives the Decision
Travel south toward Hutchins, Wilmer, and Lancaster and the industrial equation changes. This is one of the places where North Texas begins operating at true logistics scale.
I-20 provides major east-west connectivity. I-45 connects Dallas toward Houston. I-35E is nearby, and the Union Pacific intermodal facility anchors a major concentration of logistics activity. For the right operation, these transportation corridors can materially affect the economics of the business.
A high-volume distributor moving hundreds or thousands of truckloads annually should think about location differently than a 20,000-square-foot manufacturer employing engineers, machinists, and technicians. For the distributor, reducing transportation friction may justify the lack of business support infrastructure. For the smaller manufacturer, it may not.
Don’t Confuse an Excellent Logistics Market With an Excellent Location for Every Industrial User
South Dallas contains substantial modern industrial inventory and continues to attract large users. But that tells us what the market does well not whether your business belongs there.
A manufacturer whose critical employees live in Collin County would derive little value from locating near an intermodal terminal. Likewise, a company making relatively few outbound shipments may be overvaluing freight infrastructure it rarely uses.
Particularly Worth Considering When
Your operation is driven by high-volume distribution, trucking, interstate connectivity, intermodal transportation, large-format warehousing, or substantial logistics requirements.
Potential Friction
Workforce location, employee commute patterns, customer proximity, building scale, and whether your operation actually benefits from the logistics infrastructure.
Three Questions to Ask
- How much of our operating cost is actually driven by freight?
- Where do the people who must work in this facility live?
- Are we choosing South Dallas because its logistics infrastructure benefits us or simply because it has industrial buildings available?
3. Garland and Mesquite: When an Established Industrial Ecosystem Matters
Garland and Mesquite present a different proposition. These are mature industrial communities rather than emerging suburban industrial markets.
That distinction can be particularly important to manufacturers. A manufacturing business does not operate inside four walls. It operates inside an ecosystem of employees, technicians, suppliers, fabricators, maintenance providers, transportation companies, and other businesses accustomed to supporting industrial operations.
Garland has a particularly deep manufacturing base and remains one of the more established manufacturing locations on the Dallas side of the Metroplex. For some operators, that ecosystem may matter considerably more than occupying the newest available building.
Existing Infrastructure Can Be an Advantage
Older industrial markets are sometimes evaluated primarily by the age of their buildings. That can miss the larger point.
A mature industrial area may offer established power infrastructure, experienced industrial labor, suppliers, nearby customers, transportation access, and a municipal environment accustomed to industrial businesses.
The property itself still needs careful investigation. Power, loading, clear height, HVAC, truck circulation, outside storage, and expansion capability can vary significantly from building to building. But the age on the tax record should not make the decision.
Particularly Worth Considering When
You operate manufacturing, fabrication, equipment, service industrial, regional distribution, or another business that benefits from an established industrial workforce and supplier ecosystem.
Potential Friction
Older building stock, property-specific functional limitations, redevelopment pressure, expansion constraints, and the availability of larger modern facilities.
Three Questions to Ask
- Does an established manufacturing ecosystem increase operating efficiency for our company?
- Can the existing building infrastructure support our equipment and processes?
- Are we evaluating the functionality of the property or rejecting it simply because it is older?
4. Richardson and the Legacy North Dallas Markets: When Technical Workforce and Infill Access Matter
Richardson, Addison, Farmers Branch, and Carrollton occupy mature positions within the northern Dallas employment base. But Richardson deserves special attention.
Its history as a telecommunications and technology center developed decades ago created a concentration of engineers, technology companies, electronics businesses, and technically skilled employees that continues to influence its industrial and tech character.
For a technology-oriented manufacturer, electronics company, R&D operation, or other business dependent upon skilled technical labor, that can be a significant advantage.
Addison, Farmers Branch, and Carrollton provide somewhat different variations on the same broader proposition: mature locations, excellent access to established North Dallas population and employment centers, and industrial/flex inventory embedded within a largely developed environment.
The Constraint Is Also the Advantage
These markets are valuable partly because they are mature and centrally located on the I35E and US75 corridors. That also means land is largely spoken for.
A business may find exactly the workforce access it wants while struggling to find a building with adequate yard space. Another may find an excellent flex location but no realistic way to double its footprint. That doesn’t make the location wrong. It means the business must understand the tradeoff.
Particularly Worth Considering When
Your operation values technical labor, North Dallas workforce access, proximity to established customers, flex or light-industrial configurations, or a mature central location more than inexpensive land.
Potential Friction
Land costs, older inventory, outside-storage limitations, higher office percentages, redevelopment pressure, and limited expansion opportunities.
Three Questions to Ask
- How important is proximity to our technical and professional workforce?
- Are we likely to need substantially more land, office, or warehouse area during the next seven to ten years?
- Could we be paying more for real estate or paying for access to people and customers that improve the business?
5. Plano, Allen, and McKinney: When the Business Is Following North Texas Growth
Continue north on US-75 and another location strategy emerges. Plano, Allen, and McKinney sit within one of the most important and growing population, employment, corporate, and technology growth corridors in North Texas.
For industrial businesses, particularly advanced manufacturing and technology-oriented operations, that growth matters because businesses ultimately compete for people.
Engineers, technicians, managers, executives, and skilled employees increasingly live throughout Collin County and the surrounding northern communities. A company dependent upon those employees may reasonably decide that proximity to the workforce outweighs the higher occupancy cost or reduced industrial availability associated with a northern location.
Industrial Real Estate Competes With Other Uses
The challenge is that industrial users are not alone in wanting to be here. Industrial land competes with residential, office, medical, retail, mixed-use, and other development.
That competition affects land economics and can limit certain industrial uses. Plano is substantially developed. Allen has a comparatively limited industrial footprint. McKinney offers more industrial growth potential, but it too is experiencing significant competition for land.
This tends to favor industrial operations that create substantial value per acre and benefit from the area’s workforce and business environment. It is less naturally suited to businesses whose primary requirement is inexpensive land, older buildings, extensive outside storage, or land-intensive operations.
McKinney is particularly interesting because it increasingly sits between two worlds: the established employment and population centers of Collin County to the south and an emerging industrial and advanced-manufacturing corridor extending toward Sherman to the north. For this reason it has continued to experience development of modern industrial buildings and new industrial parks.
Particularly Worth Considering When
Your company depends upon engineers, technicians, skilled employees, technology adjacency, executive access, or the growing Collin County workforce.
Potential Friction
Land cost, competition from other land uses, limited availability in certain industrial size categories, and outside-storage requirements.
Three Questions to Ask
- Does access to the northern workforce materially improve our ability to recruit and retain employees?
- Are we paying a premium for a location advantage that our business actually uses?
- If we expect significant growth, should we locate farther north now rather than relocate again later?
6. Outer US-75: When Expansion and Long-Term Optionality Begin to Drive the Decision
North of McKinney, the site-selection conversation begins to change. Melissa, Anna, Van Alstyne, and eventually Sherman-Denison can offer something that becomes progressively more difficult to obtain closer to Dallas: room to think long term.
For an owner-occupant, that can mean controlling enough land to add another building. For a manufacturer, it can mean designing a facility around the production process rather than adapting the process to an existing building or land parcel. For a land-intensive business, it may mean enough room for trucks, equipment, materials, parking, outside storage where permitted, and future growth.
This is where site selection can become a capital-strategy decision rather than simply a real estate search.
The Emerging US-75 Manufacturing Corridor
The northern US-75 corridor should no longer be viewed solely as an extension of residential growth from Collin County. Major semiconductor and advanced-manufacturing investments around Sherman are changing the industrial character of the northern end of the corridor.
Sherman’s concentration of semiconductor, technology, fabrication, and manufacturing operations is creating opportunities not only for very large manufacturers but potentially for suppliers and supporting industrial businesses.
Meanwhile, communities between McKinney and Sherman occupy an increasingly strategic yet undeveloped position between the established DFW economy to the south and the growing manufacturing base to the north.
One caution becomes particularly important in outer markets: available land is not necessarily development-ready industrial land. Power availability, water and wastewater capacity, road improvements, drainage, fire protection, entitlement requirements, zoning, soil conditions, and infrastructure timing can materially change the economics.
Particularly Worth Considering When
You are an owner-occupant, manufacturer, build-to-suit candidate, land-intensive operation, semiconductor supplier, or business planning substantial long-term expansion.
Potential Friction
Infrastructure timing, utility capacity, workforce depth, employee commute patterns, supplier proximity, and the time required to develop rather than simply occupy a facility.
Three Questions to Ask
- How much value would we place on controlling our site for the next 10 to 20 years?
- What infrastructure must be added before this property can actually support our operation?
- Does moving farther north solve tomorrow’s expansion problem without creating today’s workforce problem?
The Question Is Not Which Dallas Submarket Is Best
That is the wrong question. South Dallas is not better than Richardson. McKinney is not better than Garland. Sherman is not better than Dallas. They solve different problems.
If freight dominates the economics, South Dallas deserves serious consideration. If an established manufacturing workforce and supplier base matter, Garland may rise on the list. If technical talent is critical, Richardson and the northern markets may become more attractive. If the company is following Collin County’s workforce and business growth, Plano, Allen, and McKinney deserve consideration. If land, ownership, and expansion capacity dominate the long-term strategy, the analysis may need to continue north along US-75.
That is a much different process from opening a property database and typing “Dallas warehouse.”
Seven Questions to Answer Before Looking at Buildings
1. Where Do Our Employees Live?
Not just management. Where do production employees, technicians, warehouse personnel, drivers, engineers, and future hires live? A building that saves $1.00 per square foot in rent can become expensive if it creates a persistent recruiting problem.
2. Where Do Our Trucks Actually Go?
Map the freight. Where are your suppliers? Customers? Parcel hubs? Intermodal facilities? Major outbound destinations? Do not pay for transportation infrastructure your company does not actually use.
3. How Much Power Do We Need?
For manufacturers, this question is becoming increasingly important. Understand both current demand and anticipated future demand. Utility availability can eliminate an otherwise attractive property very quickly.
4. What Does the Building Have to Do?
Separate required characteristics from preferences. Clear height, loading, truck courts, floor loading, HVAC, office percentage, cranes, outside storage, parking, power, and yard configuration should come from the operational needs not from what happens to be available.
5. What Will the Business Look Like in Seven to Ten Years?
A lease may be a five- or ten-year commitment. A building purchase may be much longer. A location that works perfectly at 25,000 square feet may become a constraint at 50,000 square feet.
6. Do We Need to Own the Real Estate?
Ownership changes the location equation. A company willing to lease may have options in established infill markets that are extremely difficult to purchase. An owner-occupant seeking land and long-term site control may need to move farther from the urban core.
7. What Are We Actually Optimizing?
Lowest rent? Employee retention? Freight cost? Customer proximity? Real estate ownership? Expansion? Power? Speed to occupancy? There is rarely one location that maximizes everything. The objective is to identify the factors that matter most to the business and make the real estate decision around them.
Start With the Business, Then Choose the Geography, Then Find the Building
Industrial site selection works best in that order:
Business -> Geography -> Property
Not: Available Property -> Location -> Hope It Works
Once the operating requirements are understood, the Dallas-area geography begins to narrow naturally. Only then should individual buildings become the focus.
That approach also makes market-specific information much more useful. Once McKinney, Garland, Richardson, Plano, or the northern US-75 corridor has emerged as a legitimate candidate, detailed market intelligence on that particular location can help evaluate inventory, costs, development activity, and current opportunities.
But those reports answer the second question. The first question is whether your business belongs there at all.
Next: Central DFW
The next guide in this series moves west into Central DFW, including Lewisville, Coppell, Grapevine, DFW Airport, Irving, Grand Prairie, and Arlington.
These locations present a different strategic proposition. Much of their value comes not from being close to Dallas or Fort Worth, but from being positioned between them – with access to DFW International Airport, major highway systems, established industrial infrastructure, and labor from both sides of the Metroplex.
For certain manufacturers, distributors, and regional operations, that centrality may outweigh the advantages offered by either the Dallas or Fort Worth side of the market.
The third guide will examine Fort Worth and the western/northwestern industrial markets, including the Alliance corridor, Denton, South Fort Worth, Mansfield, and the expanding markets toward Weatherford.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best area around Dallas for a manufacturing business?
There is no single best manufacturing location. Garland may appeal to a company seeking an established manufacturing ecosystem, Richardson to a technology-oriented manufacturer, Plano or McKinney to a business seeking skilled northern labor, and the outer US-75 corridor to a manufacturer requiring land and future expansion. The operating requirements should determine which market deserves investigation.
Is South Dallas better for distribution than manufacturing?
South Dallas has significant advantages for freight-intensive distribution because of interstate and intermodal access and its concentration of large industrial facilities. Manufacturing could also work there, but manufacturers should determine whether freight access outweighs workforce, power, supplier, and facility considerations.
Is McKinney a good location for manufacturing?
McKinney can be particularly attractive to advanced and technology-oriented manufacturers that value Collin County’s workforce and continued northern growth. Land requirements, outside storage, building availability, power, and long-term expansion should still be evaluated against alternatives farther north or elsewhere in DFW.
Why would an industrial company locate in Garland instead of a newer North Texas market?
An established industrial market can provide experienced labor, suppliers, infrastructure, customer access, and existing buildings that a newer market may not yet replicate. A newer building is not automatically a better operating location.
Why are manufacturers looking farther north along US-75?
Land availability, expansion potential, northern population growth, and major advanced-manufacturing investment around Sherman are changing the strategic relevance of the corridor. Companies should balance those advantages against workforce, infrastructure, utilities, and distance from existing customers and suppliers.
Should I choose a location before searching for industrial buildings?
Generally, the business should first define its operating requirements and identify several geographic areas that would be capable of supporting them. Available properties can then be compared within those areas. This reduces the risk of allowing an attractive building to dictate a poor location decision.
How far from Dallas should my industrial business be?
There is no standard distance. The better question is how proximity to Dallas affects customers, employees, freight, suppliers, and operating costs. A company receiving little economic benefit from a Dallas location may have considerably more flexibility than one serving customers throughout the urban core.
About the Author
Brent Pennington, CCIM | Advisor, Senior Vice President
Metroport Commercial Group, eXp Commercial
Brent Pennington, CCIM, is an Advisor, Senior Vice President with Metroport Commercial Group (eXp Commercial), specializing in tenant representation, buyer representation, and the sale of excess property for industrial business owners and chain operations. A Baylor University graduate with degrees in Accounting and Entrepreneurship, Brent brings a rare combination of financial literacy and operational credibility to every client engagement.
With 35+ years of prior experience as a business owner in manufacturing, distribution, and retail, he understands industrial real estate from both sides of the transaction, as the operator who occupied the space and as the advisor who guides owners through dispositions, acquisitions, leasing strategies, and sale-leaseback structures. That dual perspective gives his clients something most brokers cannot offer counsel grounded in how a building functions as a business asset. Brent also serves as a mentor to newer commercial brokers and as an expert witness in litigation.
As a member of NTCAR and holder of the CCIM designation, the commercial real estate industry’s most rigorous analytical credential, and Accredited Land Consultant, Brent is a recognized thought leader on North Texas industrial market trends, owner exit strategies, and CRE wealth preservation.
Connect with Brent at 817-999-8266 | brent@metroportcommercial.com | metroportcre.com
The content on this site is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, tax, or investment advice. Commercial real estate transactions involve complex variables that differ by property, market, and individual circumstance. Readers should consult qualified legal, tax, and financial professionals before making any real estate or business decision. Brent Pennington, CCIM, and Metroport Commercial Group (eXp Commercial) make no representations regarding the accuracy or completeness of information presented and assume no liability for decisions made in reliance on this content. All market information reflects conditions at the time of publication and is subject to change.
