Comprehensive Logistics Expands to 517,000 SF

KANSAS CITY, KS-An increase in business from General Motors Corp. prompted third-party logistics supplier Comprehensive Logistics Inc. to sign a 5.5-year lease to take down an entire 517,000-square-foot industrial property that once belonged to Flemings Co. The tenant, which receives, sorts and repackages parts from more than 130 suppliers to GM's assembly plant in Fairfax, KS, also leased 120,000 square feet in an adjacent property.

Comprehensive Logistics opened in half the space at 5300 Kansas Ave. during 2010. However, as General Motors' Fairfax plant grew, Comprehensive Logistics also grew in phases over a two-year period.

"When they secured longer-term business from GM, they committed to a longer term in our building based on that business," comments Bill Hardy, vice president of asset management and leasing for the landlord, BH Properties LLC out of Los Angeles. "They amended the existing lease twice as they grew into more space; when the relatively short-term lease was about to expire, they renewed on a long-term basis in its entirety."

Hardy and BH Property's executive vice president and general counsel Steve Jaffe tell GlobeSt.com that the building was acquired in 2004 and since that time, the space had been leased to other third-party logistics providers also servicing General Motors. "General Motors was familiar with this building, so Comprehensive Logistics came in, realized that GM was comfortable with it and liked the possibility of growth and expansion," Hardy adds. "We actually structured our initial deal with expansion options built in." Because the building already had a 3PL focus, "wholesale changes weren't required when Comprehensive Logistics came in, though some improvements were done," Jaffe notes.

The industrial property is BH Properties' only holding in the Kansas City market. BH Properties was represented by Mark Long of Zimmer Real Estate Services, while Comprehensive Logistics was represented by Howard Moss of Omni Consulting and locally by Jack Allen of Karbank Real Estate Co.