Opus industrial spec begins construction, leasing

Project developer, design-builder, architect and engineer of record, The Opus Group, has begun construction on Heartland Meadows Commerce Center, a 182,000-SF industrial development located within the Heartland Meadows Industrial Park.

It will be the first speculative building constructed in the Liberty, Mo. park within the last decade, yet another example of the current, unmistakable strength of Kansas City’s industrial market.

Kessinger Hunter has begun marketing space for up to eight tenants in the newly announced building.

“We’re thrilled to be leasing this new, modern space in the Kansas City market. It’s exciting to see how much the Liberty market has grown and continues to grow. There is demand for spaces like this in a well-established industrial park with a strong labor pool and will serve the needs of businesses and the community alike,” said Matthew Severns, principal in industrial brokerage at Kessinger Hunter.

The speculative development will provide four double entrances, 220 parking stalls, 32-foot clear height, up to 43 dock positions, two drive-in doors, and trailer parking.

Located at 2810 West Heartland Drive (northwest corner of Shepard Road and West Heartland Drive), the location offers nearby access to I-35 and U.S. Highway 69.

Each double entrance emphasizes a wide architectural design element that consists of contrasting colors and projecting canopies. The projecting canopies are designed with high-quality composite panels and illuminated soffits with available overhead wall area to accommodate tenant signage.

The warehouse space features clerestory windows for exceptional natural daylight and uses energy-efficient LED lighting. Construction is scheduled for an August 2021 completion date.

For leasing information, please contact Matthew Severns or Patrick McGannon at 816-842-2690.

Kessinger Hunter sees explosive post-pandemic opportunities for industrial marketplace

Before diving into detail regarding the state of the market “post COVID-19,” it is important to share that Kessinger Hunter employees and brokers are working remotely and doing their very best to stay active and engaged in business while taking care of their families, communities and clients first.

Many industry experts have been discussing what the commercial real estate world will look like once the virus passes and all the stay-at-home orders are lifted. Many of the national brokerage houses have held calls pontificating about the difficult times ahead for commercial real estate once the pandemic has passed. However, leaders and their discussions around the industrial space are concurring, and Kessinger Hunter agrees, that the bulk industrial marketplace will be stronger than ever.

Market conditions suggest three things are going to drive industrial real estate. All will put upwards pressure on space demand and rents.

• E-commerce – companies lacking online capabilities or an online presence are missing sales during the stay-at-home orders and are going to be proactive in establishing online capabilities for customers and clients moving forward. Exponential growth is expected in the space these companies lease. Real estate economists project for each $1 billion of new e- commerce business that is created, it drives an estimated need for 1.25 million SF of new industrial space. This growth alone is expected to create another 900 million SF of demand.

• Just-in-time warehouses – these warehouses typically only maintain enough inventory on hand to be able to deliver “just-in-time” to the end users. It is anticipated that these operators will add about 5% to their inventory on hand in the future. This is projected to create new demand for 1.2 billion SF of additional warehouse space.

• Near shoring – this group of businesses has been hurt by having manufacturing outside of North America. These companies are predicted to bring more manufacturing to the US which will give them greater control over their logistics. This will especially affect the Midwest area of the U.S. where the north-south supply chains go from Mexico to Canada.

It is for these main reasons that Kansas City, and the entire country at large, will see explosive growth once the world returns to “the new normal.” While industrial brokers and developers ride out this difficult time and prioritize taking care of family, the community, and clients, they must also be prepared to keep up with the new industrial norm.

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Daniel B. Jensen, SIOR is a principal for Kessinger/Hunter & Company, LC. Dan specializes in industrial brokerage and development on both a local and national level.

Dan is an inductee of the Midwest Real Estate News magazine 2016 Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame, a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), a member of the KC Area Development Council (KCADC), a board member of the Olathe Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). Dan has been active in commercial real estate since 1985.

If you are interested in submitting a guest column for the MWM Newsletter publication, please send to lisa@metrowiremedia.com for consideration.

Kessinger Hunter brings Silicon Valley's ITRenew to I-35 Logistics Park

Kessinger Hunter & Company has finalized a long-term lease with ITRenew, an information technology and service provider from Silicon Valley.

The 315,000+ SF space in Building C was the last vacancy of the 1.3 million SF presently constructed at Olathe's I-35 Logistics Park.

“We could not be more excited to make I-35 Logistics Park our largest North American facility. As our processing and production capabilities continue to scale at a rapid rate, I-35 Logistics Park and Kansas City more broadly offers us the skills and resources we need to grow,” said Aidin Aghamiri, CEO of ITRenew.

Located only 2.5 miles from the city’s new 159th & Lone Elm interchange at I-35, and 8.5 miles from the 1,200-acre BNSF Intermodal Center, I-35 Logistics Park is primed to deliver up to its capacity of 4.7 million SF.

“Companies like ITRenew in the information technology sector are just another example of the continuing strong demand for state-of-the-art, large facilities in the Midwest,” said Dan Jensen, Kessinger Hunter landlord rep.

Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, ITRenew is the world’s leading provider of hyper-scale data center services. The firm is orchestrating a circular global IT hardware ecosystem by providing technology-enabled hardware decommissioning services to the largest technology businesses in the world and using hyper-scale technology to create high-performance compute and storage solutions for all other IT-hardware buyers.

Eliminating all data security risk and ensuring complete regulatory compliance for clients lies at the foundation of the firm’s work.

“We are now looking to move forward on developing our next building at I-35 Logistics Park and our belief is that the availability of Class A big-box space will make Kansas City an even more enticing destination for expanding companies,” Jensen added.

The landlord was represented by Dan Jensen, SIOR and Kurt Jensen, SIOR member associate, both of Kessinger Hunter. ITRenew was represented by Brad Struck, SIOR and Sharon Morrison, SIOR of esrp Tenant Advisory Services of Dallas; and represented locally by Matthew Severns, SIOR of Kessinger Hunter.