CHICAGO, KANSAS CITY—Hunt Midwest recently readied a 126-acre expansion of its Hunt Midwest Business Center in Kansas City and has just formed a strategic partnership with Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate to launch a 200,000 square foot speculative industrial building on the site. The facility will satisfy a specific demand in the metro region by accommodating tenants that need as little as 50,000 square feet.

“In this market most of the speculative buildings have been larger,” Dick Ringer, assistant general manager of sales and leasing for Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development Inc., tells GlobeSt.com. “There has been very little for tenants in the 40,000 to 50,000 square foot range.”

The building will occupy about 15 acres and feature 32' ceiling clearance as well as dock high and drive-in loading. Due to its proximity to the Ford Claycomo Assembly Plant, Ringer says the building will be ideal for the many auto suppliers that are taking a fresh look at Kansas City. As reported in GlobeSt.com, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors have both expanded here, and suppliers have moved in, sometimes occupying existing facilities and sometimes building their own.  

“We are also near the FedEx and UPS hubs,” he adds, making the site attractive to ecommerce fulfillment and logistic companies looking for a central location in the US.

Hunt Midwest has developed 640 acres in Hunt Midwest Business Center and manages over 6 million square feet of industrial space. And with the regional industrial market so active, Ringer believes tenants could fully occupy this 126-acre parcel in just a couple of years.

Launching this project with HSA made sense for Hunt Midwest. “We have experience with HSA; we sold them a building in 2007 and have kept in touch over the years.” Furthermore, HSA manages over 10 million square feet of industrial space throughout the US and has a great deal of experience with multitenant buildings. “They have a lot of access to tenants in other markets that may want to come to Kansas City.”