Harsch Backfills 160,000 SF at Stockyards

PORTLAND-Harsch Investment Properties will have little downtime for 160,000- sf at Stockyards Commerce Center. Expeditors International and Portable on Demand Storage have signed leases to assume two spaces there being vacated by Biagi Bros. and Dean Foods. As well, Harsch is close to signature on another 60,000-sf lease that will take the four-building, 452,306-sf development to 99% leased in a sub market with an average vacancy of more than 20%.Biagi Bros., a trucking company that distributes Corona beer, is relocating its 50,000-sf operation to Auburn, WA. Dean Foods, meanwhile, is relocating its 111,000-sf distribution to a former A&M Warehouse in the Port of Portland’s Rivergate Industrial District. Harsch is replacing Dean Foods with Expeditors International, which has leased 33,000 sf in the center since 1999 for administrative operations. The Seattle-based freight logistics company is relocating its distribution operation from a Rivergate warehouse owned by Invesco. Biagi Bros. is being replaced with the first Northwest outpost of Portable on Demand Storage, a Florida-based new-concept storage chain.Lease rates at Stockyards are running in the low $0.30s per sf per month for warehouse space, with a $0.65 per sf per month surcharge for office space. In addition to the PODS and Expeditors leases, Harsch is reportedly close to signing another 60,000-sf tenant that would fill a space vacated by Paper Craft 10 months ago and bring the commerce center to 99% leased. That lease is reportedly fully negotiated and out for signature.Ted Nicholson, Marty Horeis, Jill Cameron and Anne Marie Sunderlin of CB Richard Ellis, Portland, represented Harsch in the lease negotiations with PODS. Bill Obregon and Michael Fisher of CBRE in Tampa Bay represented PODS. No outside brokers were involved in the Expeditors lease; Harsch was represented in-house by senior leasing manager Steve Roselli.Expeditors is a full-service logistics operation providing air and ocean freight consolidation and forwarding, and customs brokerage. The company maintains 170 offices and 13 international service centers on six continents. Portable on Demand Storage provides completely weatherproof and portable containers making storage and moving more flexible for both businesses and consumers. The Stockyards location will be its first Northwest location. The company is reportedly also seeking a location in the Puget Sound market.