Niles Industrial Center, being developed by The Missner Group and Principal Financial Group, is just one of many distribution-oriented projects ringing the Greater Chicago metro.

Chicago ... Say No More

The Chicago metro continues its dominance as the premier North American distribution hub.
        Among the recent projects in that sector are a 400,000-sq.-ft. (37,160-sq.-m.) spec industrial center in Niles, Ill. (just north of the city) being built by The Missner Group in joint venture with Principal Financial Group. In Elk Grove Village, next door to O'Hare, Seefried Properties recently agreed to construct a 253,000-sq.-ft. (23,504-sq.-m.) facility for the exclusive use of Houston-based EGL Eagle Global Logistics.
        The 3,200-acre (1,295-hectare) business park in Elk Grove Village, developed in 1956, is home to some 3,600 businesses. A recent survey found that 60 of them – in a direct blow to distribution middlemen – have chosen to offer retail sales directly from areas of their manufacturing facilities. Now others are getting in on the outlet store idea, offloading inventory and beefing up the village's sales tax revenue at the same time.
        Halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee sits another brand new DC, a 300,000-sq.-ft. (27,870-sq.-m.) facility in Waukegan, completed in 2003 for shipping supply company Uline, Inc. Like a lot of consolidation moves, this move for Uline actually represented an expansion of occupied space from two buildings that totaled 240,000 sq. ft. (22,296 sq. m.).
        "We selected this site for our new distribution center to service the Illinois region, because of its close proximity to our corporate headquarters," said Phillip Hunt, Uline's vice president of materials management. In fact, the company's 320,000-sq.-ft. (29,728-sq.-m.) HQ and re-distribution center sits right across the street in Waukegan. The company also operates DCs in Eagan, Minn.; Lake Forest, Calif.; Dayton, N.Y.; Duluth, Ga.; and Dallas, Texas, where the company also opened a location in early 2003.

Texas Nexus

That facility is not the only Dallas-area DC to make some noise. In November, Motorola signed up for 400,000 sq. ft. (37,160 sq. m.) with UPS Logistics at Hillwood's AllianceTexas development in Fort Worth, moving cell phone distribution from a DC in Harvard, Ill., where the company had also closed down R&D and manufacturing operations. As with the much smaller Uline and many other DC projects in the recent past, this move was helped along in part by the presence of an existing Motorola corporate complex nearby in Fort Worth.

This gleaming white Hillwood build-to-suit, a stone's throw from Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, will soon be home to a Network Logistics operation that will employ 35.

        As for Hillwood, its drive to be the continent's largest inland port continues unabated, but not all its projects are at AllianceTexas. Its latest DC coup was for Network Logistics, which will occupy a 263,100-sq.-ft. (24,442-sq.-m.) build-to-suit at DFW Airport, which will employ 35 people.
        "In addition to rail access, being in a Foreign Trade Zone and having triple freeport equivalency, this site will allow Network Logistics to service any growing needs at DFW Airport, including those related to Homeland Security measures for shipped goods," said Kathy Frasier, president of Network Logistics, at the December 2003 announcement.
        Also active in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro is the 1,700-acre (688-hectare) Railport facility in Midlothian, being developed by Texas Industries Inc. The park already has seen major distribution projects from Target and Toys 'R' Us, as well as a project from American National Power. In May 2003, Illinois-based KEHE Food Distributors added its own $12-million investment, a 180,000-sq.-ft. (16,722-sq.-m.), 65-employee project currently under construction on 32 acres (13 hectares), with ample room for expansion. Among Railport's major assets is its dual rail service from Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads, as well as its still-ample supply of land awaiting development.
        In Houston, the 750,000-sq.-ft. (69,675-sq.-m.) Texas Import/Export Business Park is under development on 90 acres (36 hectares). Key to the project, according to published reports, is the tenancy of Frontier Logistics, as well as its partnership with Union Pacific in the development of a $9-million railyard.
        Elsewhere in the city, Liberty Property Trust selected Cadence McShane Corp. to build a 65,650-sq.-ft. (6,099-sq.-m.) DC for an unnamed retail client. Nashville-based Ozburn-Hessey Logistics opened a new regional DC for a major grocery client (with full RFID capability). And Pro-Logis is pursuing an 83,200-sq.-ft. (7,729-sq.-m.) build-to-suit for packaging firm Bunzl Distribution.

Down to the Crossroads

The U.S. South continues to move more than automobiles through its network of industry and customers, as attested by a wealth of new retail corporation distribution projects. But automotive DCs are revving up too.
        One of the most recently established is a $15-million, 600,000-sq.-ft. (55,740-sq.-m.) facility in Moody Commerce Park in Moody, Ala., just east of Birmingham. Drawn by the proximity to several southern OEM plants, the DC will be operated by TNT Logistics for its client, Michelin North America, and will have the capacity to hold some 200,000 tires, to be moved by 75 employees.
        A $55-million, 907,000-sq.-ft. (84,260-sq.-m.) DC for Family Dollar is the latest to land in rural Florida, bringing to Jackson County (just south of the Alabama state line) the promise of 500 new jobs. And once again, as with recent Florida DC projects for Wal-Mart and others, the state's "road fund" and rural infrastructure fund were considered crucial in luring the operation, even though both funds were reduced by the state legislature.
        Starbucks Coffee Co. may seem like it's on every corner, but its warehouses are only on four corners. The newest is in the Nashville industrial neighborhood of LaVergne. The leased 125,000-sq.-ft. (11,613-sq.-m.), facility – within Ozburn-Hessey Logistics' Midsouth Logistics Center – will provide shipping services and gift wrapping for 700 retail locations serving a wide swath of the eastern U.S. It joins Starbuck's locations in Washington, Pennsylvania and Nevada also operated by Ozburn-Hessey.
        Some projects are literally at the crossroads. In this case, Savannah's Crossroads Business Center is seeing a 152,000-sq.-ft. (14,121-sq.-m.) spec DC from Atlanta-based Commonwealth Commercial Properties. The park, adjacent to Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, is already home to DCs for several major retailers and manufacturers.
        Another Atlanta-based company – McDonald Development Co. – is building a $20-million, 41-acre (17-hectare) logistics and DC at the Georgia Port Authority's Garden City Terminal, just north of Savannah. Phase One, a 290,400-sq.-ft. (26,978-sq.-m.) building, is already occupied by Capital Cargo.
        Further up I-75, the Atlanta market has seen a new 240,000-sq.-ft. (22,296-sq.-m.) agreement between ProLogis and Atkins Nutritionals at the Pro-Logis Park Greenwood, which is slated to expand well beyond its current 570,000 sq. ft. (52,953 sq. m.), given the adjacent 180 acres (73 hectares) available for development. The consistent ranking of Atlanta near the top of U.S. cities in logistics activity, combined with the changes in trucking rules, explain why another Wisconsin-based company, Schneider National, is opening a 400-job operations center in DeKalb County on a 25-acre (10-hectare) parcel.
        Elsewhere in Georgia, Wisconsin-based Kohl's hopes to create up to 300 new jobs at a new $46-million, 530,000-sq.-ft. (49,237-sq.-m.) DC in Macon, on an 80-acre (32-hectare) site at Macon Airport East Industrial Park. Scheduled to open in spring 2005, the new center will be one of eight under the purview of the company's new executive vice president of logistics, Ken Bonning. The other DCs are in San Bernardino, Calif.; Menomonee Falls, Wis.; Winchester, Va.; Mamakating, N.Y.; Findlay, Ohio; Blue Springs, Mo. and Corsicana, Texas.
        Within the past year, Kohl's also expanded its DC in the tiny municipality of Corsicana by 50 percent to 525,000 sq. ft. (48,773 sq. m.), resulting in the hiring of 120 more employees. Corsicana – an hour south of Dallas – also saw a recent investment by Carmel, Ind.-based Firestone Building Products in a new 280,000-sq.-ft. (26,012-sq.-m.), 75-employee insulation factory and DC on 35 acres (14 hectares). The move is part of a $30-million growth program in 2003 that saw the company expand at four of its 13 North American production plants and build new plants in Corsicana and Aurora, Colo. The town was already home to a major DC for K-Mart, and manufacturing facilities for Pactiv Corp. and flat glass maker Guardian Industries.