TriStar Properties launches two more spec buildings at Gateway Commerce Center in Edwardsville

 

A rendering of Gateway East 618, to be constructed east of Illinois 255 in Edwardsville.

From Illinois Business Journal news services

EDWARDSVILLE — TriStar Properties has begun development of two more speculative distribution centers initially totaling 1.13 million square feet on the eastern side of Gateway Commerce Center in Edwardsville.

Teaming with TriStar to fund the $49 million venture is PCCP, LLC a national real estate finance and investment management company.

Based on statistical benchmarks, when leased, the buildings are projected to produce a minimum of 500 new jobs, said TriStar President Michael Towerman. An estimated 5,500 people currently work at Gateway, according to a release. Gateway is a 2,300-acre logistics and bulk distribution park in Edwardsville and Pontoon Beach.

One new structure, Gateway East 618, is being built on a 53-acre site and will span 618,450 square feet with 36-foot, clear-height ceilings. The cross-docked facility will be 570 feet deep with 68 dock doors and two drive-in doors.

The other tilt-up concrete building, Gateway East 513, will host 513,760 square feet on a 46-acre site and be topped by a 32-foot clear height ceiling. Also cross-docked, the building will be 520 feet deep with 58 dock doors and two drive-in doors. Each building is sited to be expandable to more than 1 million square feet.

According to Ed Lampitt, managing director of the St. Louis office of Cushman Wakefield, the exclusive leasing agent for the Gateway venture, the 618 building is scheduled to be available for occupancy in late summer 2016 with the 513 building tenant-ready later in the fall.

“Gateway Commerce Center is widely acknowledged as one of the leading distribution parks in the Midwest. With 15 bulk buildings containing nearly 11 million square feet under roof, it is a development in which the St. Louis region can take great pride,” said Lampitt. “Our rationale in beginning a pair of buildings simultaneously is to cut a broad swath in the marketplace. We want to offer prospective national tenants a choice – and an excellent match – in their pursuit of highly efficient and expandable bulk space configurations.”

TriStar’s St. Louis-based project team for the buildings include Contegra Construction, general contractor; Gray Design Group, architect; and Stock & Associates Consulting Engineers, Inc.; civil engineer.

Gateway East 618 and Gateway East 513 will be the third and fourth distribution facilities jointly developed by TriStar and PCCP at Gateway in the past two years. In 2014, the duo teamed to develop a 673,137-square-foot distribution center occupied in May 2015 by Florida-based third-party logistics provider Saddle Creek Corp. The $26 million structure was the first speculative industrial building constructed in St. Louis since 2007.

TriStar and PCCP next partnered to recently complete a $36 million, 717,060-square-foot center on a 56-acre site at Gateway.

All three of the Gateway East buildings are to be east of Illinois 255. One of the new buildings will be built just east, or to the rear, of what is now under construction east of 255. The other new building is going up just to the north, according to Towerman.

According to Lampitt, while the building is not yet occupied, lease negotiations are ongoing. That building is the first to be constructed on the east side of Illinois 255.

In addition to Saddle Creek, Gateway tenants include Dial Corp., GENCO ATC, The Hershey Company, Ozburn-Hessey Logistics, Proctor & Gamble, Save-A-Lot, Schneider National, Unilever, USF Logistics, Walgreens and Yazaki of North America.

Institutions with holdings in Gateway include Goldrich & Kest Industries, J.P. Morgan & Co., Multi-Employer Property Trust, Prologis Real Estate Investment Trust, UBS Realty Investors (the U.S. subsidiary of Union Bank of Switzerland) and USAA.

About PCCP, LLC

PCCP, LLC is a real estate finance and investment management company that focuses on commercial real estate debt and equity investments. With offices in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, it has approximately $6 billion in assets under management on behalf of institutional investors.

Since its inception in 1998, PCCP has successfully raised, invested and managed approximately $10 billion of institutional capital through private equity funds, separate accounts and joint ventures. Learn more about PCCP at www.pccpllc.com.