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EDWARDSVILLE, IL-Panattoni Development will construct a 605,000-sf building for Spectrum Brands, the first to rise in what is expected to be a nine-building, seven-million-sf industrial park in this downstate community near St. Louis. Panattoni Development and Spectrum Brands signed a 12-year lease for the building in a deal believed to be worth more than $40 million.

The maker of lawn care products and insect repellants will ultimately get a building larger than 1.1 million sf. The expansion of the first building in the 550-acre Lakeview Commerce Park is expected to be complete by May 2008.

"The city is becoming a highly recognized major distribution site for national and regional distributors due to our central location and superior interstate access and rail service," says Lee & Associates managing principal David Zeigler, who represented Panattoni Development along with Tom Homco and John Sharpe, the latter a principal in the company's Chicago office. "We can also demonstrate cost effective labor rates and beneficial incentive programs that include a 10-year tax abatement, which results in significant savings to distribution companies."