LIBERTY, MO. — The Opus Group has broken ground on Heartland Meadows Commerce Center, a 182,000-square-foot industrial development in Liberty, a suburb of Kansas City. It is the first speculative, new-construction project within the larger Heartland Meadows Industrial Park in the past decade, according to Opus. The building will be able to accommodate up to eight tenants and feature 220 car parking stalls, up to 43 dock positions, two drive-in doors, trailer parking and a clear height of 32 feet. Completion is slated for August 2021. Opus is serving as developer, design-builder, architect and engineer. Patrick McGannon and Matthew Severns of Kessinger-Hunter are handling leasing.
ST. LOUIS — Capstone Manufactured Housing has arranged the sale of a 204-site manufactured housing portfolio in St. Louis for $8 million. The portfolio consists of two mobile home parks located on the southwest side of the city, Eagle Creek and Cedar Hill. Combined, the two parks were 95 percent occupied at the time of sale. Kevan Enger, Ian Hilpl and Brian Hummell of Capstone represented the seller, local investor Tony Stieren. The West Coast-based buyer plans to hold on to the assets for the long term, according to Capstone.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — City Club Apartments (CCA) has opened its newest community in Kansas City within the Crossroads neighborhood. The 283-unit, seven-story development also includes duplexes, townhouses and penthouses. There are 50 different floor plans. Amenities include a rooftop sky park, pool, outdoor theater, terrace club, concierge service and nearly 300 underground parking spaces. The first floor features DGX, a small retail store with grab-and-go salads, sandwiches, fresh produce and a selection of home and beauty products. Local restaurateur Howard Hanna plans to open two new concepts at the community in 2021. The combined 6,000-square-foot space will include a 2,000-square-foot wine bar and a 4,000-square-foot diner. Monthly rents start at $1,005 for studios. Residents can now receive up to three months of free rent on select units.
ST. LOUIS — Green Street St. Louis has acquired HDA Architects. The companies are joining forces to create a fully integrated development company. HDA will assimilate under Green Street Building Group’s umbrella of services, led by Paul Giacoletto, to provide a full spectrum of design-related opportunities for Green Street’s development and construction teams. HDA will continue to provide design services for its platform of clients in the office, industrial, beverage, multifamily, mixed-use and craft brewery sectors. Green Street says that the acquisition is a natural step in being able to offer a larger platform of real estate and construction services. Green Street, founded in 2008, focuses on the redevelopment of underutilized properties within urban cores. HDA was founded in 1986 and has designed projects across the country totaling more than 100 million square feet.
By Ora Reynolds and Mike Bell, Hunt Midwest Kansas City industrial real estate is trending upward with no shortage of leasing activity. The city’s location in the heart of America, with 30 percent more interstate miles per capita running through it than any other city, offers efficiency and redundancy for global e-commerce and distribution operations. With over 270 million square feet of existing industrial space in both surface and underground business parks, ample land for new buildings, a skilled logistics workforce and robust power and fiber infrastructure, Kansas City is one of the preferred geographic locations for distribution centers and is poised for continued growth based on these strong fundamentals. The nation’s transition to online purchasing at an unprecedented pace has created ripples of change. The increase in e-commerce is driving demand for more distribution space at a rate of 1.25 million square feet for each $1 billion increase in online sales, and this demand puts an increasing pressure on the supply chain for resiliency. Americans are purchasing everything online, from food and essential supplies to clothing and gifts. In the second quarter of 2020, Americans increased their online purchasing by $211.5 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. …
CASSVILLE, MO. — Westco Home Furnishings Co. has signed a 10-year, 13,325-square-foot retail lease at Cassville Plaza in Southwest Missouri’s Cassville. The furniture retailer maintains 12 locations across Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Midwest Retail Properties (MRP) owns Cassville Plaza, which is a Walmart-anchored shopping center. Other tenants at the property include Tractor Supply and Dollar Tree. Westco is relocating from its current space on 8th Street. Tom Heintz of MRP is working with Westco to manage the buildout of the space. Westco anticipates opening for business at the new location in February.
ST. PETERS, MO. — Pappy’s Smokehouse is the latest business to join the tenant roster at The Shoppes at Mid Rivers in the suburban St. Louis community of St. Peters. The 2,800-square-foot restaurant is expected to open by the end of this month. This is the second location for Pappy’s, which serves signature dry-rubbed baby back ribs. GBT Realty Corp. owns The Shoppes at Mid Rivers, which opened in 2018 and is home to a mix of retailers such as Academy Sports, HomeGoods, Ulta, Marshalls and Outback Steakhouse.
WASHINGTON, MO. — Contegra Construction Co. has completed building a new headquarters and manufacturing facility for Melton Machine & Control Co. in Washington, about 50 miles west of St. Louis. The 367,000-square-foot project more than doubles the size of the company’s existing 154,000-square-foot operations. The development includes a 74,000-square-foot corporate office, training and conference space, and is designed to improve collaboration and support with nearby subsidiary Computech Manufacturing Co. The headquarters is situated on 42 acres within Heidmann Industrial Park. Joining Contegra on the project team were Gray Design Group, 21 Design Group, Case Structural Engineering, RJP Electric, Wiegmann Associates, Heggemann Plumbing, Bi-State Fire Protection and Washington Engineering & Architecture. Melton designs and builds automated welding systems for a variety of industries. The company employs 132 workers and plans to add another 20 employees at the new facility.
By Mary Lamie, Bi-State Development The key to current and future success for four ports in Missouri and Illinois is collaboration. As ports continue to play a critical role in the global supply chain, the special working relationship between the directors of the ports in St. Louis and Kansas City is helping to keep operations flowing on the inland waterways, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant investments in each port are also fueling growth at each facility. “Like many others in the freight industry, we are classified as essential. We have access to six Class I railroads, two multimodal harbors, four interstate highways and millions of square feet of warehouse space, plus manufacturing areas and developable sites,” says Dennis Wilmsmeyer, executive director of America’s Central Port (ACP), where the constant level of activity reinforces the significance of all ports as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. With its location just north of St. Louis on the Illinois bank of the Mississippi River and its many transportation and logistical advantages, ACP has attracted 80-plus commercial tenants. Its harbor operators transport more than 3 million tons of goods valued at more than $1.1 billion annually. Though the pandemic has resulted in …
By Allison Gray, Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners The growing demand for distribution space and the related importance of freight logistics and a healthy supply chain have remained steady even though the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shake up markets across the U.S. and around the globe. This demand is evident in the bi-state St. Louis region, where more inventory of bulk distribution space has been added in the five-year period between 2015 and 2019 than at any other point in St. Louis history, totaling more than 18 million square feet of top-of-the-line modern bulk space. Recent construction and development trends in the bi-state St. Louis area reveal that bulk distribution buildings — those that top 250,000 square feet — have been the highest growing sector for the regional inventory. Since 2016, 94 percent of all bulk construction has been focused along the vital I-70 corridor, while 90 percent of the new major industrial parks with significant construction are located within 10 minutes of the I-70 corridor. This corridor, which includes portions of I-170, I-270 and I-370, is a development hotspot that links Illinois and Missouri. It has emerged as a major logistics corridor supported with more than $600 million …