PARIS-US-based ProLogis has unveiled plans for a euro 83-million ($100-million) industrial park at Charles De Gaulle Airport on the outskirts of Paris. The facility will total 1.9 million sf and comprise five distribution centers. Construction of the first three buildings will begin in the first half of 2007.

The facility will be roughly 10 miles from ProLogis'3.8-million-sf facility in the Paris suburb of Garonor, which serves around 230 companies. A company statement adds that it has a growing base of customers in northern France.

By the end of last year, ProLogis had built a portfolio of 2,300 properties totaling 377 million feet in 77 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. Demand for distribution warehousing in Europe is heating up, driven largely by the trend of importing goods from markets such as Southeast Asia.

About euros 9.9 billion ($11.7 billion) in warehousing deals took place in Europe last year, out of about euros 138 billion ($164 billion) in total commercial-real estate deals, according to a recent report by the London office of CB Richard Ellis. That it is almost double the euro 5 billion ($5.9 billion) value of warehousing deals two years earlier. This increase in supply is due largely to increased interest in the sector from mainstream investors. German open-ended funds and pension funds in particular are looking to acquire warehouses to diversify their portfolios, the report concludes.