Sysco selling a 100-acre parcel
Restaurant supplier ismoving out of NW Harris County
Amid shrinking profits from sluggish restaurant sales, Houston-based food distributor Sysco Corp. is selling 106 acres along U.S. 290 the company purchased a decade ago to house its administrative operations.
The property, on the east side of the Northwest Freeway between Barker-Cypress and Skinner roads, includes a 660,717square-foot building at 24500 Northwest Freeway thatwas once a call center for Hewlett Packard.
The restaurant supplier decided earlier this year to permanently relocate the administrative
functions to its corporate headquarters, a spokeswoman said, citing the benefits of greater collaboration and cost savings.
The announcement came as Sysco on Tuesday released significantly lower quarterly earnings, saying the coronavirus crisis continued to suppress sales as the restaurant industry, its primary customer base, reels from the pandemic.
The company reported a $217 million profit in the first quarter, ended Sept.
26, compared with $454 million in the year-earlier period. Revenues fell 23 percent to $11.8 billion from $15.3 billion a year ago.
The proposed sale fits with Sysco CEO Kevin Hourican’s efforts to reduce administrative costs through the crisis.
The company, headquartered on Enclave Parkway in west Houston, employs 57,000 people worldwide.
It purchased the northwest Harris County land in 2010 to centralize the company's administrative business functions.
There is no asking price associated with the parcel,
which is valued at $28.4 million by the Harris County Appraisal District.
The site, which is being marketed by commercial real estate firm JLL, has 1,550 feet of frontage along the 290 corridor and is within walking distance to a Park & Ride location. It is surrounded by shops, restaurants and single-family housing developments.
“Industrial mixed-use developers will have a solid interest in the tract,” according to a statement from JLL's Land Advisory Services.