Metroplex a Big Draw for Big Distribution

With its location astride some of the country's major Interstate crossroads, the Metroplex is a magnet for all types of distribution center and headquarters projects. Being about halfway between the east and west coasts doesn't hurt transportation either. So it's little surprise these facilities, which like to be in the middle of things, dominate recent news from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Hillwood is building a regional distribution center for Bridgestone/ Firestone in the AllianceTexas development in Roanoke. The company will ship tires to stores in Texas and surrounding states from the facility.

        Bridgestone/Firestone opened a new 608,000-sq-ft (56,483-sq-m) distribution center in October in Roanoke, just north of Fort Worth. The facility will employ 200 and will serve Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and parts of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Arkansas and Louisiana. Hillwood constructed the build-to-suit distribution center.
        Nelson Miller, director of physical distribution for Bridgestone/Firestone, says the site was chosen for "a whole bunch" of reasons. The process, which took about three months, was difficult because there were so many good locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, he says, adding "that's a good problem to have."
        Nelson says the Roanoke site, chosen from five finalists after a hunt that covered a 100-mile (161-km.) radius of Dallas-Fort Worth, gives the company good long-term value with competitive costs. It also is a good location for distribution and the labor market is good, he says. But the clincher was transportation considerations.
        "We need the ability to get out of Dodge in a hurry," Miller says. "We're well located to avoid the congestion of the DFW area."
        While some firms prefer to site distribution centers away from similar facilities to lessen competition for labor, Bridgestone/Firestone tends to do the opposite. Miller says he prefers locating in an area with lots of other DCs, believing that it actually increases labor availability.

Sysco will soon open a new distribution center in Lewisville, one of several the company is building around the country.

        Opening the new Texas facility brings Bridgestone/Firestone a step closer to completing its five-year project of consolidating 15 warehouses into seven large ones. The final project is under way in Lebanon, Tenn.
        Sysco, the nation's largest food service marketing and distribution company, has been on a construction spree of late, building several large distribution centers around the U.S. One of the latest is in Lewisville, where Clayco Construction Co. is building a 550,000-sq.-ft. (51,100-sq.-m.) facility. Slated for year-end completion, the building will feature 32-ft. (9.7-m.) clear height ceilings to be zoned to accommodate storage for frozen, perishable and dry goods.
        Here are a few other major distribution center projects in the region:

• Target Corp. plans to build a 1.35-million-sq.-ft. (125,415-sq.-m.) regional distribution center in Midlothian on 120 acres (48.6 hectares) within the TXI Railport industrial business park. A dirt shoveling ceremony was held in June with opening set for the first half of 2004. A US$100-million project, the facility will eventually employ about 750.
• Unilever chose Mesquite for one of its five regional distribution centers. Construction is under way on the 442,500-sq.-ft. (41,100-sq.-m.) building that will employ about 85 when completed.
• Costco Wholesale Corporation is building a $20-million distribution center in south Dallas to service 10 Costco locations in Texas. The 400,000-sq.-ft. (37,160-sq.-m.) facility will open next year and employ 200.
• Rexel, Europe's largest distributor of electrical components, will build a 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,225-sq.-m.) facility on a 16-acre (6.5-hectare) site in Terrell, east of Dallas. It will employ about 60 and is slated to open in 2004.
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened a 420,000-sq.-ft. (39,000-sq.-m.) regional tire distribution center in April in south Dallas. The center will employ up to 150.

  Verizon Wireless will soon open its Network Observation and Control Center in Southlake, one of two in the country.

• Ryder Integrated Logistics will manage product distribution for Philips Consumer Electronics North America in a 756,000-sq.-ft. (70,230-sq.-m.) facility in the Roanoke section of AllianceTexas.
• In Southlake, Verizon is close to completion of its $40-million Network Observation and Control Center. The facility will eventually employ 1,000.

        The Metroplex garnered another HQ relocation when Safety-Kleen, a leading industrial services company, decided to move from Columbia, S.C. to Plano. Ronald A. Rittenmeyer, Safety-Kleen's chairman, CEO and president, says cities considered included Atlanta, Charlotte and Chicago, plus other locations in Columbia.
        "On balance and weighing all factors, Dallas was selected due to its central geographic location, the availability of affordable real estate, favorable individual and corporate tax structures, the presence of two major airports and a relatively comparable cost of living," Ritenmeyer says.
        In Rockwall, northeast of Dallas, EZ-FLO International plans a two-phase, 200,000-sq.-ft. (18,600-sq.-m.) manufacturing and warehouse project in Rockwall Technology Park. The facility will combine the Houston and Greenville, Texas, operations of the Ontario, Calif.-based manufacturer of plumbing supplies and bathroom fixtures.