COLUMBUS—Strong tenant activity in this centrally-located city has encouraged a number of top developers to start breaking ground on class A distribution buildings. Just yesterday, GlobeSt.com reported that NorthPoint Development recently began to put up a 1-million-square-foot structure near Rickenbacker International Airport. And Duke Realty Corp. just became the latest builder to start a new bulk facility. Officials from the REIT announced yesterday that, along with the Columbus Regional Airport Authority and Capitol Square, Ltd. they will build a 482,300-square-foot warehouse at Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park southeast of Columbus.
In addition, INNO-PAK, LLC, a Delaware, OH-based designer, manufacturer and distributor of packaging products for the grocery and food service industries, has already agreed to lease 53% or 253,838 square feet of the new building. Duke and its partners are constructing the warehouse, which they will call Intermodal North Building 3, on a 33-acre site between Rickenbacker Pkwy. and the airport.
“Interest in Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park has grown as companies are working to identify sites that will help them reduce transportation costs by improving efficiencies,” says Art Makris, vice president of leasing and development for Duke's Columbus office. “Its US Foreign-Trade Zone status, overweight hauling designation, and rich transportation infrastructure all combine to give clients a complete package of logistics options and efficiencies.”
“The Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park's location adjacent to the cargo-dedicated airport, the Norfolk Southern intermodal terminal, and major interstate highways, including I-70, I-71, and I-270, together create a very direct, efficient route for moving goods to cities throughout the US,” says Robin Holderman, chief development officer of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.
According to a recent JLL study, 47% of the US population, and 33% of the Canadian, lies within a 10-hour drive of Columbus. Since 2010, the vacancy rate among industrial properties here sank from 12.4% to around 6.0%, a decline that far outpaced the national average. And in 2014 tenants in the metro area absorbed 4.7 million square feet, also a much faster pace than the US overall.
Construction on Intermodal North Building 3 began in July and Duke officials say they will finish by early 2016. The precast concrete, cross-docked building will have 33'6” clear height after the first column, 54' x 50' bay spacing with 54' x 60' spacing at the dock bays, and 48 – 9' x 10' dock doors with levelers, bumpers, seals and lights. The building will also have 214 car parking spaces, 24 trailer staging spaces and a 135' truck court.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
