While a lot of attention sits on data centers waiting for power, North Texas industrial construction is quietly turning dirt. Two developers broke ground on warehouse parks in the same week, one in Denton and one in McKinney, together putting more than a million square feet of building into construction with more planned. For sitework and grading contractors, warehouse pads are among the most material-intensive work available: select fill, structural fill, and road base under drives and truck courts. Both projects deliver in 2027, which means the earthwork is happening now.
The headlines follow the big announcements. The dirt work follows the groundbreakings.
Jackson-Shaw broke ground on Horizon 35, a master-planned business park in Denton whose first phase delivers 543,550 square feet across three rear-load buildings, with the development planned to exceed 900,000 square feet at full buildout (Source: Commercial Property Executive, August 14, 2026). Earlier in August, VanTrust Real Estate started Phase 1 of 121 Commerce Park in McKinney, two speculative buildings totaling more than 512,000 square feet on 42 acres, with roughly 250,000 square feet more planned for Phase 2 (Source: VanTrust Real Estate, August 2026).
A warehouse pad is a large, unglamorous, material-hungry job. The building sits on engineered fill built in compacted lifts to a specified density, and the drives, dock aprons, and truck courts sit on road base. A half-million square feet of building plus its paving means a steady stream of loads placed on a schedule the concrete crews are waiting on.
Two DFW industrial parks broke ground in the same week, with first phases totaling more than a million square feet of building in Denton and McKinney.
Source: Commercial Property Executive and VanTrust Real Estate, August 2026
There is a useful contrast here. Announced projects that are still waiting on power or permits do not consume material on the timeline their press releases imply. Buildings with a groundbreaking and a 2027 delivery date do.
Chase the pads that are actually under construction, and line up base and fill against the pour and paving schedule rather than the calendar. Confirm the fill spec from the geotechnical report before you order, because pad material is held to a density requirement. Here is what select fill is and how it is specified. Then get delivered pricing and haul capacity committed so a pad does not sit waiting.
DFW remains one of the most active industrial construction markets in the country, and these two parks are evidence that the pipeline is still converting into real earthwork. For a grading contractor, that is the most reliable kind of demand: funded, permitted, and already moving.
Chase the pads that are turning dirt, not the ones still waiting on a power line.
Call 214-282-7980 or request a quote at aggregatesnow.com.