Originally built for Dayton Tire Co. in 1969, the 300-acre property was shuttered in Dec. 2006 and put on the market under the supervision of Eric Dienstbach, a senior vice president in the Denver office of Philadelphia-based Binswanger. According to Dienstbach, about a half dozen prospects showed interest in the property, but only three pursued it and only two made serious bids: Big Industrial and Wichita, KS-based Ablah Enterprises Inc.

The former won not only because it offer the most money but also because it seemed more capable of closing. "We were interested in eliminating as many contingencies as possible during the due diligence to be sure we had a deal that would go through," Dienstbach says. "Big Industrial was very cooperative in that regard."

Ben Schmidt, a broker with Big Industrial who leads the property's leasing effort, says the buyer plans to redevelop the property into a multi-tenant facility for a mix of warehouse, distribution and manufacturing tenants. It will demolish some parts of the existing complex and renovate others. A 300,000-sf center section will be torn down and replaced by a truck court, with loading docks inserted into the surrounding structures. The resulting product will total about 2.1 million sf. Schmidt says Big Industrial has already begun power washing the plant and will begin rehabbing it "in earnest" in January. It has been renamed Will Rogers Business Park.