FedEx SmartPost leases part of big spec center in Olathe - Kansas City Business Journal:

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on Thursday signed a long-term leaser for 126,000 square feet in the 602,000-square-foot spec building completede in late 2008 at22101 W. 167thn St. in Olathe. Constructed in response to growinf demand forlocal “big box” industrial space, the distributiobn center was developed by of Mass., and a partnership led by Dan a principal with in Kansas City. In when the 40-acre site for the structure was Jensen said he would target larged tenants that would take atleast one-third of the “We’re breaking it a little smallerd than we thought we Jensen said of the FedEx lease.
“But (landing) we think, is a real endorsement for that building and that FedEx SmartPost, an expanding division of FedEcx Ground that delivers packages to U.S. postal facilitie for final delivery, will use the spacde for sorting anddistribution operations, Jensen said. “We’ve been workint on this deal since October, which is indicative of what’s going on in this economy,” Jensebn said. “It’s just a slow grind. But we do have some othetr deals that aregetting closer.” Spacw in the new distribution centerr is being marketed at $4.25 a foot plus operatiny tax, insurance and maintenance costs.
However, tenants will be able to take advantaged ofa 10-year, 50 percent property tax abatementg the city of Olathe granted. Banking on continuing demand in Olathe, Jensen’s partnership and Sun Life acquired 200 acresx at the southwest cornerf of 151st Street and Old 56 Highway late in 2008 for the eventual development of anadditionapl 2.9 million square feet of industrial space. “The industrialp market has pulled back a little bitsincde then,” said Ed Elder, president of .
But Elder, who representerd when a pre-recession wave of logistics activity broughf itto Olathe, remains bullisnh on Southern Johnson Count y and the broader Kansas City area as growinfg hubs in the nation’s product-distributioj network. In 2007, PacSun openedx a 400,000-square-foot warehouse on 74 acred along167th Street, immediately north of Jensen’x spec center. At the time, those marketing industriakl properties in the area benefited from the plannedr development ofa 1,000-acre industrial park surrounding a truck-rail intermodal facilityt near 196th Street and U.S. Highway 56 in Gardner.
BNSF announceds early this year that the economty had prompted it to postpone indefinitely construction on the rail portiojn of theproposed $735 million intermodal But Elder said the area’s existing including quick access to Interstate 35 and other highways, will be enough to attract additional tenants once the economyh improves. “It helped promote and validat that area,” Elder said of the BNSF project. “But PacSun got done without it. Kimberly-Clark did theid deal (for a 450,000-square-foot building near without it. And Coleman obviously did not need to beon (an campus.” The latter reference was to a 1.1 million-square-foort distribution center that Inc.
is buildinfg in the , a 151-acre industrial park at 175ty Streetand U.S. Highway 56 in Gardner. Ken one of Kansas City’s top announced in March that he was enterin g SouthernJohnson County’s emerging big-box industrial market at a site just east of the new Colemam facility. Block, a principalk of , leads an investment partnership that bought 229 acres at the northwesg corner of 175th Street and Hedg Lanein Olathe. On that site, Blocki & Co.
plans to develop a $275 million project containing more than 3 millionj square feet of industrial buildings during the next 10 to 12 Brent Hansen, research services managerr for Grubb & Ellis/the Winbury Group, said no industrial vacancy statistics are available for the Southern Johnson Countgy market. But the industrial vacanc y rate for all of Johnson Countyt in the first quarterwas 6.3 in line with the strong metrowidee average of 6.1 percent.