Brixton Capital has sold the Dow Texas Innovation Center in Lake Jackson to ExchangeRight Essential Income REIT, ending a nearly six-year hold on the property that began in November 2020. The transaction involves one of Dow Chemical’s key research locations, transferring ownership of a modern corporate campus that remains fully leased to the global chemical company.
Completed in 2016, the Dow Texas Innovation Center spans 34 acres and totals 664,100 square feet across four buildings. The property is operated under a single-tenant, triple-net lease with Dow Chemical, positioning the facility as a long-term, income-generating asset for its new REIT owner. The campus functions as a global research and development hub for The Dow Chemical Company, supporting the firm’s broader operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Corey Eagle of Brixton Capital noted that the seller chose to receive REIT operating partnership units as part of the transaction. He said that by exchanging into these operating partnership units, Brixton was able to defer taxes while remaining invested in real estate and positioning the proceeds for long-term growth and income generation. This structure allows Brixton to retain exposure to institutional-quality assets without direct property ownership.
The innovation center is located approximately 50 miles south of downtown Houston, placing it within commuting distance of a major economic center while remaining closely tied to Dow’s industrial footprint on the Gulf Coast. Its location near Dow’s extensive 7,000-acre Freeport complex underscores the strategic importance of the campus within the company’s global network.
Dow’s Freeport site is described as the largest integrated chemical manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere. The complex includes Dow’s ethylene facility, which the company characterizes as the cornerstone of its $12 billion in growth investments on the U.S. Gulf Coast. That ethylene facility, which began operating in September 2017, has a nameplate capacity of 1.5 million metric tons, highlighting the scale of the industrial and research ecosystem surrounding the Lake Jackson campus.
With the sale to ExchangeRight Essential Income REIT and Brixton Capital’s decision to accept operating partnership units, the transaction links a fully leased, mission-critical research campus to a diversified income-focused REIT structure, while allowing the seller to redeploy capital in a tax-efficient manner.
