Borders Takes 600,000 SF at DP Partners' LogistiCenter

Aaron H. Paris, EVP and COO of DP, declined to reveal the aggregate value of the lease or the rental rate, but confirmed to GlobeSt.com that the asking rates in this part of Cumberland County are in the $3.75-per-sf to $4-per-sf range, without confirming whether or not the Borders' lease falls within that range. "The remaining approximately 206,000 sf of cross-dock space in the building will be marketed for use by a single tenant," he says. In addition, "we are in design of our second building, a 525,000-sf facility, with plans to break ground immediately. At this point, there is enough flexibility to serve the requirements of almost any logistics user."

In early 2006, after Borders closes its 125,000-sf facility at 1981 Fulling Mill Rd. in Middletown, about 30 miles east, it will begin a transition to this facility as its East Coast distribution center. The transition will continue through 2008. The move is part of a multi-year strategic initiative to enhance the efficiency of Borders' nationwide distribution and logistics network, which supplies more than 460 Borders and 700 Waldenbooks stores in the US.

"Borders Group is exactly the type of logistics and distribution operation we had in mind when we designed LogistiCenter in Carlisle," Paris says, suggesting that the new facility offers expansion room for the tenant. When fully developed, LogistiCenter will contain about four million sf in seven buildings ranging from 231,000 sf to 1.4 million sf. The Borders' cross-dock facility began as a spec building and has 120 dock doors with levelers, expandable to 160, 185-foot truck courts, 156 trailer-parking spaces, 50- by 50-foot bay sizes and 30-foot, clear-height ceilings.

DP is significantly invested in eastern Pennsylvania. In addition to the Carlisle center, it acquired 40 acres in Chambersburg where it developed a 414,000-sf build-to-suit for OHL Logistics, and 93 acres for its Blue Mountain Logistics Park in West Harrisburg, which was fully developed in the spring of 2002 and contains 1.4 million sf in three buildings. After beginning development of the Carlisle park, it also started a 100-acre park in Allentown, which will accommodate two distribution facilities totaling nearly 1.3 million sf. The first Allentown facility, a 594,293-sf building, is scheduled for delivery this May.

"We plan on making eastern Pennsylvania a key area for us," Paris says, drawing a parallel between this area and its headquarters location in Reno. "We see them as twin areas: Reno to serve Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Western US, and Pennsylvania's I-81 corridor to serve New York, Boston, Washington, Baltimore and the Eastern US."

DP utilizes partnership structures with construction companies, other developers, clients and financial entities. In early 2003, it established a financial partnership with CalSTRS to develop three million sf of industrial space annually. All projects carrying the LogistiCenter brand are products of that partnership.