Blair Sinclair, senior development manager for theCalgary/Edmonton office of Chicago-based First Industrial RealtyTrust Inc., tells GlobeSt.com that infrastructure work will beginin the spring, with ready-to-go lots for vertical constructioncoming online in the fall. He says the JV is weighing the prospectof jumpstarting First Park Nisku with some spec product. Thedevelopment land is less than one mile east of the airport andfronts Queen Elizabeth II Highway, a thoroughfare traveled by60,000 vehicles per day as people shuttle between Calgary andEdmonton.

TheCalSTRS-funded JV bought the marketed land from residentialbuilder Beaverbrook Developments of Edmonton. The purchase price isoff limits, but to put the build-out value into perspective,Sinclair says construction costs in the region can range from $60per sf for "a simple warehouse" to $100 per sf for a showcasebuilding.

Sinclair says the FirstCal fund is focused on western Canada dueto dynamics like Edmonton, which has a 90-million-sf industrialinventory and 1% vacancy. On average, rents for 10,000-sf to20,000-sf small-bay spaces are running $10 per sf to $11 per sf and100,000-sf bulk spaces are fetching $7 per sf to $9 per sf.Sinclair admits tight markets can be nice, but says "in a tightmarket like this, everything is expensive."