ProLogis Building Third Spec in Park 70 Etna

COLUMBUS-ProLogis is building a third speculative distribution center at ProLogis Park 70 Etna here off of I-70. Building Three will be 524,000 sf, and will be joined in the future by two more buildings, comprising five buildings at 3.4 million sf on 220 acres.

The property already has two facilities, Building One and Two, which make up about one million sf. Three tenants take up 673,000 sf in the buildings, including Menlo Worldwide, JELD-WEN and Speed FC. There's been some interest in Building Three, but nothing outstanding, says Brian Marsh, ProLogis SVP and Columbus market officer. "We feel good about the activity," he tells GlobeSt.com. "There's been good demand, and we wanted to have inventory space available for companies who want to grow."

A ProLogis spokeswoman would not reveal the building cost of Building Three, but says it typically costs $23 to $27 per sf to build such a facility in this market. She wouldn't provide the asking rates either, but said the average asking rate for similar buildings typically run from $2.75 to $3.25 per sf.

Columbus is an excellent place to build distribution centers, Marsh says. "Central Ohio is a good regional distribution market, you can serve half the US population in one-day trucking. We continue to see distribution centers located here."

The company is seeking silver LEED certification for Building Three. The construction will include extensive use of recycled and locally sourced materials, skylights and low-maintenance landscaping to minimize water consumption and waste, among other green initiatives. "We want to be good stewards of the environment, and the customer wants this as well," Marsh says. "You're seeing it a lot more, and though clearly in office projects the savings are a lot bigger, it's still benefiting the customer, such as designing the irrigation to be served by water runoff instead of paying for city water. We're looking at doing it market by market, when it makes the most sense."