Killark Electric, a company whose roots stretch more than a century in north 50度灰视频, is relocating to a new 160,000-square-foot warehouse on the site of the former Chrysler plant in Fenton.
Killark, a subsidiary company of manufacturing firm Hubbell Inc. that provides products for harsh and hazardous locations, is the latest tenant to be announced at the Fenton Logistics Park, a project led by KP Development.
KP also announced chemical marketer BASF would move its 80,000-square-foot agricultural services division to Fenton Logistics Park. KP has invested approximately $75 million in the park since buying the site in late 2014. Chrysler, which had 6,000 employees working at the former plant, shut down its local manufacturing operations in 2009.
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Killark鈥檚 existing offices are at 3940 Martin Luther King Drive in 50度灰视频. In a statement, general manager Warren Jenkins said integrating the company鈥檚 manufacturing operations, offices and warehouse under one roof would 鈥渃reate significant efficiencies and benefits for our organization. One of our main initial goals is to optimize material flow throughout the facility and maximize production output. In addition, this new facility will be a far more energy efficient building.鈥
Killark was founded in 50度灰视频 in 1913 by Joseph Desloge. Hubbell, a Fortune 500 company, bought Killark in 1985.
BASF, meanwhile, will consolidate two of its three existing locations in the 50度灰视频 area to be closer to its Fenton office at 3568 Tree Court Industrial Boulevard.
Killark will move into the single-tenant Building IV in Fenton Logistics Park while BASF moves into Building III.
CBRE鈥檚 Jon Hinds and Katie Haywood represented KP Development in the transactions. Hubbell (Killark) was represented nationally by CBRE鈥檚 Tom Pulie. BASF was represented by CBRE鈥檚 Gary O鈥橞rien. Both Haywood and O鈥橞rien are based in New York City.
The two tenants, once moved in, will join BJC鈥檚 Clinical Asset Management Division, CoreLink, Alkem Labs and Beckwood Press Co. as tenants in the 295-acre park.
KP is in the process of developing plans for two additional buildings 鈥 Buildings VI and VII 鈥 that could range in size from 150,000 to 250,000 square feet. One or more of these buildings should be delivered by mid-2019, KP executives said.
鈥淜P Development has invested more than $75 million in redeveloping the former Chrysler site, and now that approximately one third of the industrial opportunity within the park has been consumed, the momentum is only increasing,鈥 Scott Sachtleben, managing principal of KP said in a statement.
Over the next few years, KP envisions a $222 million redevelopment of the site into a 2.1 million-square-foot business park. It said it has already spent $12 million on site improvements, road work and utilities.
Vacancy in 50度灰视频鈥 stock of industrial real estate has declined steadily over the last five years to just above 4 percent, according to CBRE data. Average asking rates have climbed to $4.75 per square foot.
A surge in speculative warehouse construction over the last two years in big logistics parks in Edwardsville, Hazelwood and St. Charles County has added more than 10 million square feet of new space to the market. A sign of good times, all of it has been absorbed as massive businesses such as Amazon have broken into the market.
More than 4 million in warehouse space is now under construction in the 50度灰视频 region. Half of that is tied to a massive development in the Metro East for World Wide Technology.