Kenco selects Liberty Logistics Park for new facility

Kenco Logistics Services, LLC has selected a 295,600-SF warehouse and distribution space for their new facility at Liberty Logistics Park in Liberty, Mo.

“We are excited that Kenco Logistics, one of the top ten logistics companies in the world, selected the Liberty Logistics Park and our community for their new facility,” said Lyndell Brenton, mayor of the City of Liberty.

“Their decision to locate here reinforces Liberty’s place as a growing logistics and distribution hub in the Midwest. While Liberty Logistics Park is still under construction, we believe our community values, location and "can do” attitude are the differentiators that attract new businesses, like Kenco Logistics, to Liberty, Brenton said.

In the past five years, the KC region has successfully attracted eCommerce and distribution companies pledging to create more than 10,200 jobs, invest $1.8 billion and occupy 16.7 million square feet, according to a release.

“The KC region’s central location and access to a skilled workforce are key drivers of a successful eCommerce strategy,” said Tim Cowden, president and CEO of the Kansas City Area Development Council.

“The KC SmartPort team and our partners in Liberty continue to elevate our region’s competitive advantages to position KC as a leading logistics hub,” Cowden said.

The Kansas City Area Development Council worked with a number of regional partners in attracting Kenco to the Kansas City region, including the State of Missouri, Missouri Partnership, City of Liberty, Missouri, Liberty Economic Development Corporation, CBRE - Joe Orscheln, Evergy, Spire Energy and KC SmartPort.

“It is fantastic to see and support the growth in the logistics and distribution industry in Liberty and the entire KC region,” said Subash Alias, CEO of Missouri Partnership.

“The status of Missouri as North America’s Logistics Center is already well known, and more and more companies, such as Kenco, are taking advantage of one of the best river, road, air and rail infrastructure systems in the nation. When it comes to logistics and distribution, Missouri is a global leader.”

Kenco Logistics Services, LLC

Kenco is the largest woman-owned third-party logistics (3PL) company in the United States. The company provides integrated logistics solutions including distribution and eCommerce fulfillment, comprehensive transportation management services, material handling equipment services, engineering and innovation consulting, and information technology. For more information, visit kencogroup.com.

Metal Supermarkets to open new store in Olathe

Metal Supermarkets, the world’s largest supplier of small-quantity metals, will open its newest store at 1713 E. 123rd Street in Olathe, Kan. on Monday, September 14, 2020.

Located right next to I-35, the new Olathe store is near major thoroughfares and situated between bustling retail developments and booming industrial businesses. 

Metal Supermarkets Kansas City (Olathe) offers customers instant access to any metal, cut-to-size and ready fast, with no minimum order quantity.

“Our newest location helps extend our footprint throughout the Midwest and it will be the first store in the state of Kansas,” said Stephen Schober, president and CEO of Metal Supermarkets.

Metal Supermarkets serves a wide variety of businesses customers across various industries, including tool and die shops, manufacturers, maintenance managers, fabricators, machine shops, contractors, construction companies, military, education and other government departments; as well as hobbyists, artists and homeowners.

Metal Supermarkets stocks a diverse selection of metal types including hot-rolled steel, cold-rolled steel, stainless steel and aluminum in a wide variety of shapes including bar, tube, sheet, plate and more. The new store also offers value-added services such as production saw-cutting, shearing and same-day delivery.

The new store will be owned by Leith Winsor, who was born and raised in the Kansas City area. After decades of experience in B2B and B2C sales roles, Winsor is adapting his skills to the franchise ownership, focusing his efforts on providing world-class customer service to area businesses and consumers purchasing metal.

“Even with the impact of the pandemic, the industrial manufacturing and metalworking industries in Kansas City haven’t slowed down. We are eager to help local businesses and customers get the metal products they need, when they need them,” said Winsor.

Partners on the building remodel included Manning Construction and Integrated Electric.  Olsson Engineering performed the engineering and architectural inspections. 

The new store will be open Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m; and Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Customers in the Kansas City area can call 913-289-0021 or email olathe@metalsupermarkets.com to contact Metal Supermarkets and place an order.

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About Metal Supermarkets: Metal Supermarkets, known worldwide as The Convenience Stores for Metal, is the world’s largest small-quantity metal supplier with more than 95 brick-and-mortar stores across the US, Canada and United Kingdom. It sells a wide variety of metals including Aluminum, Hot-Rolled Steel, Cold-Rolled Steel, Stainless Steel, Alloy Steel, Galvanized Steel, Tool Steel, Brass, Bronze and Copper. Metal Supermarkets offers value-added services such as Production Cutting, Shearing, Punching and more. Its staff are highly specialized and assists customers in finding the metal they need. The franchise owners and their staff are metal experts and have been providing quality customer service and products since 1985.

Jones Development acquires manufacturing and distribution facility in New Century, KS

Sumner Investment, L.L.C., a local partnership arranged by Jones Development, recently acquired a manufacturing and distribution facility in Johnson County, KS. The warehouse is situated on 17.71 acres in the New Century AirCenter, with close access to I-35.

As part of Jones Development’s newly created value-add portfolio, the facility is currently undergoing capital improvements and being offered for lease or sale, divisible as small as 100,000 SF.

The entire building includes 311,100 SF, with 12,000 SF of office space and 22’ – 26’ ceilings. The facility includes 36 dock doors, six drive-in doors and over four acres of paved, fenced and lighted outside storage for product or 95 trailer parking stalls.

“Jones Development has been developing, buying, selling, and managing industrial properties since the late 80’s,” said Chris Jones, executive vice president of investments at Jones Development. “The main difference today is that we are looking to aggressively expand this side of our business by forging some new, external relationships and pursuing more value-add facilities similar to Sumner.”

As part of their emphasized investment efforts, Jones Development also hired Cameron (Cam) Duff in March as vice president of investments.

Locally, Jones Development is also developing the master-planned Olathe Commerce Park, a new industrial business park occupying 66 acres at Dennis Avenue and South Grant Street, near KS Highway 7 and I-35.

Additionally, Jones recently completed a 99,600 SF speculative warehouse in Shawnee, KS, repurposed and sold a 88,000 SF facility in Riverside, MO, acquired a 2.5 acre parcel of land in Riverside, MO for future development, purchased two parcels of land at the intersection of Troost and Truman, and is investing with other local developers. Beyond the area, Jones is underway on several build-to-suit industrial development projects.

Farm co-op plows ahead with plans for former Toys R Us building

The vacated Toys R Us Kansas City distribution facility in Lee’s Summit made national headlines when the retailer folded in early 2018. However, brisk demand for large, tenant-ready industrial space meant that the property sold quickly.

“The amount of interest from all over the country was quite impressive,” said Joe Accurso, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield. “The availability of a high-quality, fully racked, industrial building of this size doesn’t come along very often.”

More than two dozen potential buyers toured the 725,000-square foot facility at 420 SE Thompson Dr. near U.S. Hwy 50 and Mo. 291. Coincidentally the first company to come calling, Mid-States Distributing LLC, emerged as the winning bidder for the 41-acre property.

“This facility was an ideal fit for our rapidly growing company. When we learned of its availability, we knew the stars were aligning for us in a very special way,” said Mid-States President & CEO Tom Mahlke. “The Toys R Us situation, while very unfortunate for many, became our great fortune. We worked hard and aggressively because this was a great location geographically for our members.”

The leading farm and ranch retail store cooperative plans to invest more than $35 million in the distribution center, which will service a network of 39 member companies and nearly 700 retail locations in the U.S. and Canada. Mid-States will commence operations in the facility by the end of the year with immediate plans to hire between 30 and 35 employees within the next month to launch the operation.

Lee’s Summit Economic Development Council President Rick McDowell said the high level of interest in the former Toys R Us space signals ongoing strength in the warehouse and distribution market and room for more activity in south Lee’s Summit.

“We had tremendous interest in that building,” McDowell said. “That leads me to believe that the addition of Mid-States will serve as a catalyst for ongoing business expansion and attraction in Lee’s Summit’s south side commerce corridor.”

Added Cushman & Wakefield’s Joe Accurso: “This property has created a wealth of opportunity for Lee’s Summit. I’m happy to see the building and area full of activity again.”

Olathe pioneer spec building sells to investors

The region's first large speculative industrial building at 167th Street and Lone Elm in Olathe has sold to a Dallas investment group. Developed by Kessinger/Hunter, the 600,000+ square foot warehouse and distribution facility at 22101 W. 167th St. in I-35 Logistics Park is fully occupied by FedEx and Bushnell Corp.

Developer Dan Jensen of Kessinger/Hunter saw the current industrial real estate wave coming over a decade ago and worked with Sun Life Assurance to get the building approved, financed and out of the ground.

“This was the first large spec building in our market. It was very rewarding to take this project from an idea back in 2007, through design, permitting, construction, leasing, management and finally sale ten years later," said Jensen, who brokered the building's recent sale to Sealy & Co.

When Jensen first proposed the Lone Elm spec, commercial real estate investment was in a deep freeze. Nonetheless, Jensen persisted and successfully made his case about the potential for growth in Kansas City due to its interstate highway access and central U.S. location. Today, the metro is one of the top 10 industrial markets in the country.

"It is incredible the way the Kansas City metro has exploded with quality big box distribution facilities over the past 10 years. I do not see this slowing down anytime in the near future," Jensen said.

Jensen, meanwhile, continues to ride the wave he helped create. Kessinger/Hunter just announced construction plans for its third warehouse facility in I-35 Logistics Park, a "semi-spec" project that is partially pre-leased. For those keeping track, that brings Jensen's team to just under 2 million square feet of industrial space developed in South Johnson County.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) negotiated the sale on behalf of the buyer. Kessinger/Hunter will continue to manage the Lone Elm building.