Work began in late February on a new 136,651-square-foot distribution center on 8.6 acres at 21420 Hwy. 290, Cypress.

The project is being constructed by the industrial real estate firm Molto Properties. Officials said the project will feature a Class A tilt-wall facility and will be able to accommodate one or two tenants, according to a news release. The building will feature 2,586 square feet of spec office space, 121 parking spaces and a loading area with 30 dock-high and two drive-in doors.

The plot of land where the new center is under construction is located in front of TIFCO Industries and next to the Houston location of Vermeer Texas-Louisiana, which sells specialty construction equipment.

The property's direct access to Hwy. 290 is an increasingly rare asset in the northwest Houston area's tight industrial market, said Chad Parish, vice president of Molto Properties-Houston.

Industrial vacancy rates in Houston's northwest corridor were around 5.9 percent at the end of 2018, according to a report from Colliers International, down from 6.6 percent in the third quarter of 2018.

The northwest corridor saw 2 million square feet of industrial net absorption in the fourth quarter of 2018. Net absorption involves taking the total amount of new industrial square footage leased and subtracting the amount of square footage placed back on the market due to tenants leaving. The northwest corridor outperformed all other Houston area submarkets in the fourth quarter in this metric, according to Colliers.

The project represents Molko's first foray into the Houston area. The firm has other projects in Illinois, California, Indiana and Kentucky, according to its website. Molto officials said they expect to continue to expand in Houston moving forward.

"We will continue to focus on distribution centers in and around Houston that will give our clients a logistical advantage," Molto's Managing Principal Todd Naccarato said in the release.

Work on the project is expected to he complete in August.