MINNEAPOLIS—The Twin Cities' industrial market continues impress. The sector has seen its vacancy rate fall below 5%, and users are clamoring for more space. Duke Realty has just become the latest owner to announce a major expansion for one of its tenants. Officials from the REIT recently said that it will expand the 150,064-square-foot, build-to-suit warehouse it delivered for Blu Dot, a designer and distributor of modern home furnishings, in May 2015 by 116,200 square feet.

They will build the expansion on land adjacent to Gateway North 6301, Blu Dot's existing building within Gateway North Business Center in suburban Otsego, and raise the distributor's total leased space within the center to 266,264 square feet. Construction will begin in July with completion slated for January 2017.

“When we developed Blu Dot's original 150,000-square-foot building last year, we set aside 5.95 acres adjacent for expansion,” says Josh Budish, vice president of leasing and development for Duke in Minneapolis. “We are pleased that their ongoing growth and satisfaction with their current facility have given us another opportunity to deliver quality space for them and their operations.”

“Our building at Gateway North has greatly enhanced our ability to grow,” says Maurice Blanks, co-founder and chief operating officer of Blu Dot. “Duke Realty did a great job on our original building, and I'm confident they will again deliver a quality facility that meets our needs.”

Just like Gateway North 6301, Blu Dot's expanded facility will include rear loading, 32' clear height and 45' x 50' bay spacing. An additional 12 dock doors and one drive-in door will be incorporated into the expansion.

Neil Kolatkar and Dan Swartz with CBRE represented Blu Dot in the building expansion transaction, while Budish represented Duke.

Located just north of the I-94/Hwy. 101 interchange, Gateway Business Center North is a five-building industrial development that fronts Hwy. 101 between county roads 36 and 37. Since 2014, Duke has delivered 1.3 million square feet of new, modern warehouse space in the park including build-to-suit facilities for Blu Dot, Room & Board, Ruan and Wagner Spray Tech. Following Blu Dot's expansion, Gateway North Business Center will be essentially fully developed with remaining land in the park being held for the existing tenants.

Neil Kolatkar and Dan Swartz with CBRE represented Blu Dot in the building expansion transaction, while Budish represented Duke.

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Twin Cities' Industrial Sector Keeps Expanding

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