CALIMESA, CALIF. — Birtcher Development has broken ground on Birtcher Oak Valley Commerce Center, a 125-acre, ground-up industrial development at Singleton and Roberts roads in Calimesa. Birtcher is developing the project with QuadReal Property Group. Totaling 2.2 million square feet, the development will consist of four Class A industrial buildings offering 40-foot clear heights, flat floor and a minimum of 185-foot truck courts. Completion of the 1.2-million-square-foot first phase is scheduled for second-quarter 2023, with the 1-million-square-foot second phase slated for completion in third-quarter 2023. The project team includes HPA, Proactive Engineering Consultants West, Albert A. Webb Associates, Alta California Geotechnical and Southern California Geotechnical. The site’s previous owner, Oak Valley Development Co., owned the property since 1997 and obtained entitlements for the project in first-quarter 2021. Oak Valley Development Co. will deliver the offsite and road infrastructure for the project in addition to the building pads for Birtcher’s vertical development. Oak Valley Development Co. plans to develop an 80-acre retail center immediately adjacent to Birtcher Oak Valley Commerce Center. Herb Grabell and David Burback of Kidder Mathews and Mike McCrary, Peter McWilliams, Patrick Wood and Scott Coyle of JLL handled the sales transaction.
LEBANON, PA. — Third-party logistics company DHL Supply Chain will open a 970,000-square-foot distribution center in Lebanon, an eastern suburb of Harrisburg. DHL Supply Chain is both the developer and end user of the project, which will be part of a larger, two-building development. The project is expected to generate $88 million in capital investment for the region and add about 200 jobs to the local economy. Construction of the first facility is expected to begin in mid-July and to be complete in the first quarter of 2022.
PLAINFIELD, IND. — Developer HSA Commercial Real Estate has selected Meridian Design Build to construct a 278,148-square-foot speculative industrial building in Plainfield. Located at 915 Airtech Parkway, the project will sit on 25 acres. Precast delivery is scheduled for mid-August. The building will feature a clear height of 32 feet, up to 54 loading docks, four drive-in doors, 400 auto parking spaces and 143 trailer parking stalls. The project marks Meridian’s fifth ground-up development in the Indianapolis area and its third building for HSA. The project team includes Cornerstone Architects, Swift Structural Design and American Structurepoint. Terry Busch and Jared Scaringe of CBRE will market the property for lease.
DALLAS — A partnership between Velocis and Sumitomo Corp. of America, the New York City-based subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Corp., will develop two industrial projects totaling 850,000 square feet in Dallas. The partnership acquired development sites in the South Dallas and Great Southwest submarkets. Construction timelines have not yet been established. Velocis is a private equity real estate fund manager based in Dallas.
BOSTON — Developer WinnCos. has completed a $30.2 million project that converted the waterfront site of an obsolete public housing development in East Boston into a 52-unit mixed-income complex. The site now houses 22 apartments to be rented to low-income households and 30 condominiums to be sold at market-rate prices. The rental units feature one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom floor plans. MassHousing provided a $6.6 million permanent mortgage and $3.6 million in bridge loan financing for the development. Bank of America provided an $11.6 million construction loan and served as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investor. Enterprise Bank contributed an $8.6 million construction loan for the condo portion of the project.
NORTHAMPTON, MASS. — Shawmut Design & Construction has completed the $120 million renovation of the historic Neilson Library at Smith College in Northampton. The 200,000-square-foot building originally opened in 1909. The library now houses an innovation and entrepreneurship center, as well as a series of classroom spaces, a reading room, private study areas, sunken courtyard and event spaces including an outdoor amphitheater. The library also features a podcast studio and other labs for producing digital content. Renovations began in 2017. Project partners included architectural designer Maya Lin and principal architect Shepley Bulfinch.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Dallas-based Stonemont Financial Group has broken ground on three speculative industrial buildings totaling 699,000 square feet in Fort Worth. The developments will consist of a 213,000-square-foot building at FM 156 near Chaplin Drive and two buildings totaling 486,000 square feet at Golden Triangle and Harmon Road. Construction of all three buildings is set to begin in the coming weeks, with completion of the first project slated for March 2022 and delivery of the second and third buildings scheduled for May 2022.
CHICAGO — James McHugh Construction Co. and Bowa Construction have completed a $53.7 million indoor track and field facility at Gately Park in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood. The 139,375-square-foot building sits on a 13.5-acre site at 10201 S. Cottage Grove Ave. The project includes a 118,000-square-foot fieldhouse that is home to a six-lane running track, high jump and long jump pits, pole vault, hurdles, relay areas, shot put cages, sprint lanes, concession areas, locker rooms and seating for 3,500 spectators. The flexible design enables the space to be utilized for various sports and can accommodate four basketball and six volleyball courts. The building’s remaining 22,000 square feet includes a fitness center, multipurpose rooms, Chicago Park District administrative offices and After School Matters programming space. While local athletes will use the building for practice and meets, the property’s size and Olympic-grade quality qualifies it to bid to host NCAA Division I, II or III track and field championship competitions. Itasca-based Williams Architects was the project architect, and Chicago-based Eckenhoff Saunders designed the After School Matters space.
PHOENIX — Spellman Brady & Co. has completed the expansion and renovation of Sagewood Senior Living in Phoenix for Life Care Services. Renovations included a four-story, 101-unit independent living building with an underground parking garage. The 276,454-square-foot building features one and two-bedroom apartments with den layouts and patio views. The project also provided activity and game rooms, an art studio, putting course, café, formal dining, an indoor-outdoor tapas bar and lounge.
MELROSE PARK, ILL. — Bridge Industrial has acquired a former Navistar manufacturing site in Melrose Park for the development of Bridge Point Melrose Park, a 1.5 million-square-foot industrial park. Navistar sold the 86-acre site to the Chicago-based developer. Plans call for three Class A, speculative buildings, two of which will each span 415,918 square feet. The third building will measure 707,953 square feet. The facilities will feature clear heights ranging from 36 to 40 feet, 130-foot truck courts, a total of 234 exterior docks, eight drive-in doors, 1,481 car stalls and 282 trailer stalls. Completion is slated for mid-2023. Dan McGillicuddy of JLL represented Navistar in the sale.