Million plus Square Foot Dist Center in KCK

[justin8216]

Someone bought the Turner Commerce Park under development at Riverview Ave and Turner Diagonal from Northpoint Development and has converted it from a multi building business park to one large warehouse with over a million square feet. The new tenant is a secret right now.

I did a little digging and the architect for the new building is Atlanta based Macgregor and Associates. I'm trying to think what company would need a million plus square feet of distribution space in KC. I think we can rule out Amazon since they are building in Gardener, KS.

The Home Depot is my guess because they are based in Atlanta and that is where the architect is based although this architect has many retail and e-commerce clients.

May be Amazon needs 2 million square foot DC's in Kansas city?

Anybody got any other ideas who this mystery tenant might be?

[justin8216]

I forgot to mention the building is designed to be expanded to 2.3 million square feet and grow from 1,500 initial employees to an eventual 3,500 employees. The UG originally was doing a CID to replace an interchange but instead the state of Kansas is stepping in and granting the UG $7 million dollars to replace the Riverview Ave bridge with and at-grade intersection with Turner Diagonal.

3,500 new jobs will be a major economic boon to that corridor.

edit: KC Biz journal reports that it is for an "online fulfillment center" and at build-out would become KCK's 4 largest single employer.

Has to be Amazon. But why would they need an 800,000 sq foot warehouse in Edgerton, KS and another 2 million square foot warehouse in Kansas City?

[pash]

.

[flyingember]

I'm betting it's UPS. Their world HQ is in Atlanta and the firm is in Atlanta

They're one of the few places that uses seriously large spaces in every major market

They have a distribution center in the west bottoms on the KS side that is seriously site constrained and a service depot on KS Ave
http://ltl.upsfreight.com/ProductsandSe ... &qstate=KS

It's also close to the large Argentine rail yard that BNSF moved a lot of freight movement from to Edgerton so there's new capacity for companies to move product in that way.

[Eon Blue]

It's also close to the large Argentine rail yard that BNSF moved a lot of freight movement from to Edgerton so there's new capacity for companies to move product in that way.

Nah; anything UPS ships via rail would be going intermodal rather than loose car freight. Any intermodal BNSF handles in the KC metro would be done out of Edgerton - you can see from Kansas Avenue that the former intermodal yard at Argentine is out of service.

If you want to buy out some houses, you could run a spur up from the UPRR tracks on the north side of the river. Barring that it looks like this will be a 100% truck facility.

[earthling]

The Biz Journal states it's a tenant that pays double the minimum wage. That's not Amazon. And it's 2.3M space.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... first.html

[flyingember]

$7.25 x2 = $14.50

Glassdoor, which we know is questionable, puts $11-12 for UPS and higher for supervisors. It's entirely possible their pay in KC is $14/hour. Especially if they're purposefully trying to compete with Amazon's new warehouse.

If they count this as the base for truck drivers and include that in the pay that could bump the average. Avg of $11 and $17 is $14/hour.

[brewcrew1000]

Do pharmacies have big distribution centers to fill orders?

[flyingember]

Stites said the building will have a footprint of 856,000 square feet but will have 2.3 million square feet of usable space. The design includes an internal mezzanine, he said, that will suit sophisticated fulfillment technology.

So it will be a three story structure. And fulfillment technology seriously limits who this could be to some place that moves lots of packages around.

Entirely possible it's an Amazon competitor for online fulfillment. Walmart was mentioned and it's well positioned for cross-country markets for trucks from Bentonville. Target is the same and is a different freeway than from Minneapolis.

An expanding smaller chain like Hy-Vee could use a MO-based distribution system to expand south more. They ship most everything from Iowa and that will limit expansion into markets like Tulsa.

[FangKC]

Signs point to Amazon.com as tenant for huge KCK project

While the tenant for a colossal new fulfillment center planned for Kansas City, Kan., remains a secret, signs point to one suspect: Amazon.com.

The Unified Government Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved industrial revenue bonds for a project with 2.3 million square feet of usable space. The unnamed tenant — an online fulfillment center — is to employ 1,500 initially and as many as 3,500 when completely built out.

Officials with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., and a representative for developer RELP Turner LLC said the tenant's name may be revealed in the next couple of weeks. But the players involved and pattern all point to Amazon.

http://tinyurl.com/ht5aogu

[mean]

Same day delivery, same day delivery, same day delivery...

[earthling]

Walmart recently mentioned doubling down on online biz. Though three Amazon fullfiment centers in KC area would be significant message to other logistics biz looking at KC. The article mentioned double minimum wage. Amazon doesn't pay well compared to Walmart fulfillment centers so think Walmart still possible.

[longviewmo]

Walmart recently mentioned doubling down on online biz. Though three Amazon fullfiment centers in KC area would be significant message to other logistics biz looking at KC. The article mentioned double minimum wage. Amazon doesn't pay well compared to Walmart fulfillment centers so think Walmart still possible.

Edgerton, this one, where's the third?

[earthling]

^Lenexa has had an Amazon distro center for quite a while.

[justin8216]

Huh. Maybe Wal-Mart? Do they have an online fulfillment center in the metro yet? I believe their online sales have been growing rapidly, faster than Amazon's in recent years.

It might make sense for Amazon to build a second facility, particularly if they're planning to introduce groceries and same-day delivery to the metro. ...

After reading that second biz journal article i'm convinced it is Amazon. Can't wait for same day delivery!

[flyingember]

Office supplies, clothing are both growth areas for online sales.

So a store like Staples or Macy's are good guesses too.

Walmart would be the best second choice behind Amazon given the geography of being close to Bentonville and their focus on ship to store orders.

[joshmv]

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... enter.html

I'll just post what I put on Reddit...

Amazon is a big part of my business so i follow this stuff closely.

2.3 million usable sq. ft. is obviously enormous, but it's huge even by Amazon standards.

With the Edgerton and Lenexa facilities, it will bring their KC presence to around 3.4 million sq. ft. To put that in perspective, they only have around 260k right now in Lenexa. If they actually use the 2.3 million sq. ft, it would be over a million sq. ft. more than their current largest facility.

If you're wondering why none of this is in Missouri, it probably has a lot to do with not wanting to charge sales tax. (I understand KCRaggers probably know this, it was included because people on reddit don't normally understand business or taxes)

Same day prime should start soon after this opens.

[brewcrew1000]

You could almost create a sub business off same day to cater to the Kansas Side. Charge a small fee to deliver it to your Missouri based address and deliver to Kansas Side customers.

[DaveKCMO]

good luck getting workers to that site -- a mile from the nearest bus stop -- even with "substantially more than minimum wage" pay.

[im2kull]

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