Flint Development Sells Eastwind Logistics Center to DHS for $122.8M — 8,500-Bed ICE Mega-Detention in Socorro TX

El Paso Logistics II LLC — the Delaware entity controlled by Flint Development (Prairie Village, KS) — transferred the Eastwind Logistics Center in Socorro, El Paso County, TX to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security via general warranty deed on January 17, 2026, for $122.8 million. The three-building industrial complex (~888,000 sqft total, three reinforced concrete tilt-up warehouses of ~296,000 sqft each, on approximately 60 acres off Gateway Boulevard East) is planned for conversion to an 8,500-bed ICE mega-detention facility — one of the largest in the country.

What Happened / Key Facts

The deed transfer was a WEXMAC-TITUS acquisition — part of DHS’s “Detention Reengineering Initiative” accelerated through a Navy Other Transaction Authority procurement bypass that enabled multi-hundred-million-dollar property acquisitions without standard GSA competitive bidding or congressional notification. The El Paso transaction closed within the same January 2026 window as nine of the other ten WEXMAC-TITUS acquisitions.

Flint Development had constructed the Eastwind Logistics Center as a speculative three-building Class A industrial park, with Harvey Cleary Builders as general contractor and Davidson Architecture & Engineering as the architect. ZTEX Construction performed site civil work beginning in 2021. A LinkedIn milestone post from Flint showed slab pours and tilt-panel work progressing toward a Q2 2025 scheduled completion. The property was listed for lease via CBRE with brokers Jacob Quinn and William R. Caparis. It was sold to DHS rather than leased commercially.

The sale price — approximately $138/sqft for Socorro, TX industrial — is consistent with a meaningful market premium, though Flint’s land acquisition cost and construction basis are not publicly disclosed. El Paso County deed records would establish the land basis.

Flint Development simultaneously retained the position of master developer for a $3.1 billion AI hyperscale datacenter campus at De Soto, KS — the Beale Infrastructure / Blue Owl Capital project at Flint Commerce Center, approved by De Soto City Council in August 2025 and broken ground April 29, 2026.

Why This Event Matters

The Eastwind sale makes Flint Development the third confirmed developer-level entity in the procurement-overlap between the ICE detention-warehouse buildout and the AI-datacenter buildout (after Blue Owl Capital and PNK Group). Unlike Blue Owl (a large publicly-traded alternative asset manager) and PNK Group (a Russian-founded developer), Flint is a five-year-old private startup founded by two Kansas City–area real estate professionals with Newmark Zimmer career backgrounds — illustrating that the overlap extends below the institutional investor tier to local speculative developers who identified the federal detention program as a liquidity event.

The event is also structurally significant because Flint’s De Soto datacenter partner, Beale Infrastructure, is a portfolio company of Blue Owl Capital — the same Blue Owl that sold the Tremont PA warehouse to DHS for $119.5M on January 29, 2026. Two WEXMAC-TITUS sellers (Flint and Blue Owl) are therefore co-present on the same De Soto datacenter campus within the same fiscal quarter as their detention warehouse sales.

Broader Context

Socorro City Council raised objections to the conversion, citing the 8,500-bed capacity and stormwater/drainage infrastructure concerns. The Lower Valley Water District service area presented water supply adequacy questions for housing thousands of detainees. An adjacent plot under Flint’s control remained available for further expansion.

Flint had also negotiated an OKC ICE deal (2800 S. Council Road, Oklahoma City) but withdrew on January 29, 2026 after public pressure and city council opposition — making Flint unique in the WEXMAC-TITUS cohort as the only firm to complete one acquisition and withdraw from a second.

Research Gaps

• Flint’s land acquisition cost and Harvey Cleary construction cost for Eastwind Logistics Center — requires El Paso County deed records (interactive portal)
• Whether DHS conversion of the 8,500-bed facility proceeded on schedule
• Status of adjacent plot off Gateway Boulevard East

Related Entries

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• 2026-04-29–beale-blue-owl-breaks-ground-de-soto-ks-hyperscale-datacenter-flint-commerce-center