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Joining a host of other national
developers, Denver-based ProLogis is diving into North Mississippi with
the purchase of 140 acres in DeSoto County.
ProLogis, a real estate investment trust
with more than 9 million square feet of industrial space in Shelby County,
snatched up the balance of available land in the DeSoto Distribution Park.
The park, at Miss. 305 and U.S. 78 in Olive Branch, was assembled by Dan
Turley Jr. and Richard Maxwell. "We think it was the largest
industrial-zoned piece left unpurchased in DeSoto County," Turley said.
ProLogis officials would not comment.
Andy Cates and Bayard Snowden of Colliers Wilkinson Snowden represented
ProLogis. ProLogis has been active in Memphis for several
years and recently finished a 600,000-square-foot building in Southeast
Memphis in ProLogis Park Stateline during the first quarter. That building
is expandable to 1.1 million square feet.
In DeSoto County, ProLogis owns a
Williams-Sonoma distribution building that is being expanded from 800,000
square feet to about 1.1 million square feet. The REIT also owns a Sears
warehouse in DeSoto. ProLogis's entry into North Mississippi, the
company's first purchase of vacant land there, is continuing the growing
trend of national developers establishing footholds in the area.
"I think in (ProLogis's) case they
don't want to be left out," said Michael Mullis, vice president of
Farnsworth Investment Co. "They don't want to be the only big-box
developer that doesn't have a Mississippi alternative."
A number of large land transactions in
North Mississippi were completed in the first half of the year.
Dallas-based Hillwood Development,
which recently added 586 acres adjacent to DeSoto Trade Center in
Southaven, owns more than 680 acres for future development in DeSoto
County, enough real estate to handle 11.2 million square feet of
distribution space, according to the latest Colliers Wilkinson Snowden
market report. Hillwood has been very active in North
Mississippi, recently starting its third building -- a 540,000-square-foot
distribution center -- since it entered the market in 2001.
Atlanta-based Industrial Development
International purchased the 475-acre Olive Branch Distribution Center.
That space gives IDI the room to build about 8 million square feet of
space in North Mississippi.
Based on land purchases and buildings
under construction, North Mississippi can produce more than 26 million
square feet of new buildings in the coming years, according to Colliers.
"North Mississippi has continued to
gain momentum for distribution requirements in the Mid-South," said Al
Andrews, Memphis partner for Sacramento, Calif.-based Panattoni
Development. "Last year, 37 percent of big-box industrial deals were made
in DeSoto County. For the first half of this year, over 70 percent of
those big-box deals have been made in DeSoto County.
"This is just another example of a high-quality, large national
distribution developer selecting DeSoto County for their next
opportunity," Andrews said. Turley and Maxwell have been
riding the wave of interest in DeSoto County.
Last year, FedEx Ground purchased 110
acres at DeSoto Distribution Park for a new hub where it will employ about
400 people. "It was the most hard-fought,
complicated negotiation I've ever participated in," said Turley, a 32-year
commercial real estate veteran.
The FedEx ground hub is under construction and is scheduled to be up
and running in 2006. "We've been believers down there for
awhile," said Maxwell.
-- Amos Maki: 529-2351
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