Denton Land for Sale
UNRESTRICTED, HARDENED OPERATING YARD ON IH-35E — DAY 1 UTILITY WITH ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING COMPLETED BY OWNER (ESA PH 1 - SEE VAULT FOR EXCERPT REPORT)
Offering between 27.4 AC - 68.32 acres on the IH-35E service road in unincorporated Denton County, with an improved hardstand yard already in operation. Assembling this from raw ground today would take years of entitlement and significant capital — and most North Texas jurisdictions would not permit it at any price. 35 years of continuous heavy outdoor-storage use, no city zoning, and no use restriction by ordinance.
**Ownership commissioned a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment before bringing the property to market. Available on request; follow-on soil investigation scoped and priced. Documentation is in the data room.
WHY THIS SITE CANNOT BE REBUILT
- 4-5 years of entitlement and permitting in any zoned DFW jurisdiction, assuming approval is granted at all.
- Most North Texas cities will not permit a new outdoor-storage or salvage-character yard of this scale by right, at any price.
- Cost to construct comparable hardstand from raw ground is real and rising — this improvement is already in place and in use.
- 35 years of continuous heavy outdoor-storage operating history on this exact site.
PRICING & DIVISIBILITY — AVAILABLE THREE WAYS, PORTIONS FROM $3,069,000
- THE EXPANSION / INVESTMENT TRACT: 40.92 AC — $3,069,000 ($75,000/AC)
- THE IMPROVED YARD: 27.4 AC — $4,384,000 ($160,000/AC)
- THE ENTIRE SITE: 68.32 AC — $6,732,000 ($98,536/AC) — discounted, a $721,000 savings vs. the sum of parts
Seller financing available. Ownership will consider terms on all or a portion of the purchase price, and a phased acquisition structure.
MARKET CONTEXT — THE SCARCITY ARGUMENT
- IOS vacancy ~2.5%-4% vs. ~6.5%-8.3% for traditional industrial (Partners Real Estate).
- DFW industrial vacancy 8.1%-8.6% in Q2 2026, down consecutive quarters (CBRE, JLL) — a tightening macro backdrop.
- $360M + $400M + $226M in IOS capital transactions between March and July 2026 alone — three separate sponsors (Sagard/La Caisse, Alterra IOS, JLL), one pattern, not an anecdote.
- $181M of IOS acquisitions in H1 2026 alone (Catalyst Investment Partners) — transaction velocity, not just capital raised.
Several of this site's uses can produce income from day one — yard leasing, fleet and truck parking, dismantling, or batching — because the hardstand, the utilities, and the operating history are already in place. An investor underwrites the current use rather than a four-year entitlement outcome, and can phase the 27.4-acre yard and the 40.92-acre balance separately.
USE-CASE PROOF — BUILT AND PROVEN FOR
Auto Dismantling & Recycling: 35 years of continuous vehicle storage and salvage-yard operation on this exact site — no zoning case, no use approval, no council vote required to continue it. A Phase I ESA is already complete.
Truck Terminal & Fleet Parking: Structural precedent — Outpost phased a 42.3-AC Fort Worth site as truck parking (~15 AC improved, ~27.3 AC to be improved); this property's 27.4/40.92-AC split is the same play. Southeastern Freight Lines already committed $30M to a Denton terminal in this submarket.
Concrete, Aggregate & Batching: A named prospect (the adjacent property owner to the north) approached ownership for concrete batching and was days from an LOI — validated demand, not a hypothetical use. Two on-site wells support a water-intensive operation independent of municipal supply.
GROWTH & DEMAND DRIVERS
- 966 truck transportation firms and 1.39M employees within 45 minutes support long-term freight and labor demand.
- Denton County population up ~39% over 10 years, crossed 1M residents in 2023, projected 1.3M+ by 2030.
- Sanger ISD: 14 active subdivisions plus 19 planned with 12,500+ future lots; enrollment projected to more than double by 2035.
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT
- TxDOT I-35 North Improvement Project: $187M allocated to widen I-35 from 4 to 6 lanes plus continuous frontage roads directly fronting the property.
- Part of a $1.25B+ Denton County corridor reconstruction program enhancing long-term truck access and capacity.
Approx. 900' of IH-35E service-road frontage with multiple access points. Outside city limits. No city zoning. No SUP or rezoning risk. Maximum use flexibility.
IDEAL FOR: IOS, truck terminals, fleet parking, contractor yards, equipment laydown, auto dismantling and recycling, concrete/aggregate/batching, heavy industrial uses, and phased industrial development.
