Matrix Is Building Another Distribution Faciity at 7A

ROBBINSVILLE, NJ-In another example of a surging industrial market in central New Jersey Matrix Development Group began work this week on a build-to-suit warehouse and distribution center for Falken Tire Corporation.

The building is going up in the Matrix Business Park at 7A, a  480-acre light industrial park here.  The 222,000-square-foot facility is a new location for the international manufacturer of automobile tires and it will come on-line next spring.

The announcement is the latest indicator of vitality in the central New Jersey industrial market (see previous story) which is - as CBRE Group's 3^rd-quarter report hammered home - outperforming northern Jersey at this time. In the recent quarter, 63% of new and 70% of renewals were in the central region.

Matrix has recently leased more than a million square feet at its Northeast Business Park at 7A, adjacent to the park where the tire company will be located. That included a 500,100-square-foot lease with Global Equipment Co., a subsidiary of Systemax, and a 500,520-square-foot lease with IDS USA, a subsidiary of Li & Fung Limited.

The new building for Falken is the latest of several build-to-suit projects at Matrix Business Park this year. In one case, Matrix sold a site on which a 350,000-square-foot facility is being developed for pharmaceutical distributor and healthcare information technology company McKesson Corp.  In addition, Matrix recently ompleted a 150,000-square-foot build-to-suit distribution building for Ritchie & Page Distributing Company, Inc.

KTR Capital Partners is also at work  a one-million-square-foot warehouse for Amazon within the park on a site acquired from Matrix.

There is a total of about 50 million square feet of industrial space in the area around Exit 7 off the New Jersey Turnpike. The Matrix park is situated at the interchange of the Turnpike and Route 195.

Falken's decision to establish a distribution center there indicates the submarket has become “one of the most coveted locations in the Northeast,” said Matrix principal Alec Taylor.

Mercedes Benz of America and McMaster Carr Supply Co. are also located within the park, which is a designated Foreign Trade Zone.