Foreign Auto Supplier Expanding in Two States

The 230,000-sf building is owned by the Corporex Cos. The signing gives a boost to the building, which only has another 50,000-sf tenant, says Dan Tobergte, the president and CEO of Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corp.

"The class A office market in northern Kentucky ranges at about 22% vacancy, we've got a little bit of capacity," Tobergte says. "It's an interesting building, it was a build-to-suit manufacturing building, but the company departed. Corporex bought it back three years ago and renovated it into a multi-tenant facility. We did think it would move a little quicker after that, but it now has two national credit worthy tenants, the Gap and Toyota Boshuku. That should help out the building." He says class A office rents in the area range from $15 to $20 per sf.

The automotive supplier plans to move into Dolwick by August, with a five-year lease and an option to expand. The company will also receive $2.1 million in tax incentives under the Kentucky Jobs Development Act, through the state's Economic Development Finance Authority, for selecting Erlanger as its home office and promising to create 100 new jobs. Huff Realty assisted the company in finding the office space.

The company is also expanding its Michigan Technical Center in Novi, MI, with the purchase of a 70,000-sf office building, tripling the company's space in the city. However, the Erlanger office will remain the US main office, "to consolidate administrative operations which are scattered in facilities across North America," said company officials in a recent statement. Erlanger was chosen because carmaker Toyota has two plants nearby, the officials said. The company has 19 plants throughout the Americas, and is based in Kariya-city, Aichi, Japan.