WILMINGTON, DEL. — Harvey Hanna & Associates and partner Boxwood Industrial Park LLC have begun the redevelopment of a former General Motors plant in Wilmington. The demolition of the 3 million-square-foot property is the first step of the redevelopment into a business and distribution campus. The project will include 3 million square feet of commercial space spread across four buildings. The demolition of the former plant is expected to take 10 to 12 months, with a significant amount of materials to be reclaimed and recycled. The new campus is expected to create more than 2,100 permanent jobs in logistics, distribution, engineering and transportation. The plant was one of dozens of properties surrendered by General Motors Co. as part of its 2009 bankruptcy.
Development
RICHARDSON, TEXAS — Dallas-based KDC will develop a 130,000-square-foot powered shell data center within Richardson’s Telecom Corridor in metro Dallas. The project, which is slated for completion by summer 2019, will be KDC’s fifth ground-up data center development in Richardson. The center will feature more than 20 network fiber carriers and an onsite substation for robust power and short electrical feeder runs. Alliance Architects is designing the project and Kimley Horn is the civil engineer.
HOUSTON — Central Southwest Texas Development LLC (CSW) will develop a 1,311-unit self-storage facility at 10411 Westheimer Road in Houston’s Westchase neighborhood. The five-story, 132,350-square-foot property will be located in a neighborhood that features an average annual household income of about $91,000 within a three-mile radius. Griffin Guthneck and C.W. Sheehan of JLL arranged an undisclosed amount of floating-rate construction financing for the project on behalf of CSW. The lender was not disclosed. A timeline for construction has not yet been determined.
EDWARDSVILLE, ILL. — Contegra Construction is underway on a $6 million retail property in Edwardsville near St. Louis. Known as IronWorks, the property will connect to the Madison County Transit Trail. The first phase of the property will include a two-building, 22,000-square-foot retail and restaurant space that is currently 60 percent leased to Sugarfire Barbecue, Global Brew and Strange Donuts. A third building is planned at a later date. Completion of the first two buildings is slated for March 2019. Gray Design Group, civil engineer Thouvenot, Wade & Moerchen and structural engineer Alper Audi make up the project team.
MINNEAPOLIS — Lupe Development Partners plans to break ground on an affordable housing project in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis this spring. The start date for construction was unveiled after Lupe received a $1.2 million grant from the Metropolitan Council’s Livable Communities Demonstration Account and a $2.4 million loan from the Minneapolis City Council’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The first of the two buildings will be located at 410 W. Lake St. and will include 111 affordable housing units. Nine of the units will be reserved for homeless veterans. Construction of Phase II, an identical building, is slated for 2020. To be eligible for housing, residents must meet income restrictions of $30,000 to $42,000 per year. Located close to the Midtown Greenway, the development will feature a green roof, solar panels, a fitness facility, a business center, community rooms, outdoor decks and a bike room with a repair station.
TAMPA, FLA. — The Altman Cos. has topped out Altis Grand Central, a nine-story apartment building that will offer studio, one- , two- and three-bedroom floor plans. The community is located less than one mile south of the University of Tampa and will include amenities such as a sky lounge and pool on the roof, Zen garden, dog park and a clubroom. The 314-unit complex is scheduled to be complete in summer 2019.
TAMPA, FLA. — Pipeline Workspaces, a shared workspace concept, has opened a new location in downtown Tampa. Pipeline Tampa occupies the 15th floor of Park Tower, which is located at 400 N. Tower St., across from The Tampa Riverwalk. Pipeline Tampa is Pipeline Workspace’s seventh location and sixth in Florida, joining offices in Brickell, Coral Gables, Doral, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. Pipeline also has a location in Philadelphia. Amenities for Pipeline members include high-speed internet, color printer/copiers, access to conference rooms, mailboxes, a kitchen and complimentary coffee and tea.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Lee & Associates, one of the largest broker-owned commercial real estate firms in North America, has opened its first office in North Carolina. Moss Withers and Karah Jennings will head the new Lee & Associates office in Raleigh-Durham. Lee & Associates was founded in 1979 and has offices in the U.S. and Canada. The Raleigh-Durham office joins locations in Miami; Seattle; Pasadena, Calif.; Walnut Creek, Calif.; Minneapolis; Vancouver; eastern Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati; Cleveland; and Houston as the most recent openings. Withers and Jennings are both joining Lee & Associates from NAI Carolantic.
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — The Port of Corpus Christi has secured $59 million in funding from the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers for its channel improvement project, which is valued at $360 million. The funds will be used to widen and deepen the waterways as the port anticipates handling between 2 to 3 million barrels of crude oil per day in the coming months. The federal government is covering a total of $230 million of the project costs.
TEMPLE, TEXAS — Battery producer East Penn Manufacturing Co. will expand its distribution center in the north central Texas city of Temple. The project, which will create 266 new jobs, will deliver a new facility, bringing the company’s total capital investment in the market to $106 million. The expanded facility will be situated within a 305-acre industrial park in northwest Temple, with construction slated to begin next fall, according to tdtnews.com.