Jim Fair
The largest speculative warehouse, 240,020-square-feet, ever built in Greer is breaking ground at Velocity Park with a January 2016 completion date.
Beacon Partners and Cullum Interests are partnering on a 240,020-square-foot venture at 545 Brookshire Road with a completion date set for January 2016.
“There’s a lot of activity in the market and businesses are looking for lease space to be closer to BMW or new suppliers that have never been close to BMW and want to be,” Allen Cullum, of Cullum Interests, said. “And they are not the only ones looking for space.”
Cullum has lifetime ties to Greer and has invested in business parks and other entities that have moved Greer forward in business and industry.
“It’s gratifying to see this building going up at such a promising time in the Upstate,” Cullum stated in the announcement. “South Carolina is doing an exceptionally good job with economic development these days and we’re thankful to be a part of that growth here in Greer.”
Situated on 14 acres and 0.3-mile from Hwy. 101, and across from BMW Manufacturing in Greer, the facility will offer state-of-the-art design features and functionality to accommodate a wide variety of today’s industrial users, according to an announcement from Beacon Partners shared with GreerToday.com.
“We’re very excited to grow Beacon’s industrial presence in the Upstate,” Sean McDonnell, of Beacon Partners, said. “This facility offers a great opportunity for us to better serve the increasing demand for Class A space in Greenville-Spartanburg and along the I-85 corridor.”
Cullum said Beacon Partners and his company appeared to be a good fit for the Upstate market. “Beacon was looking to come back into the upstate and I had property,” Cullum said. “They are not the largest developer but they are one of the best to work with. I’ve been working with them at least a year on this,” Cullum said.
Greer’s economic boom can be traced to its intermodal diamonds – Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, I-85 and nearby I-26, and the Inland Port with overnight rail service to the Port of Charleston.
Cullum’s vision of more auto suppliers looking for space is reflected with Greer’s BMW campus becoming the company’s largest in the world.
Additions include the building of a 527,000-square-foot body shop, the third at the plant, and a 60,000-square-foot operations center at the Highway 101 entrance. Those will result in the production of the X7 SAV by 2017 and 450,000 vehicles produced annually with two-thirds exported. The Greer plant was named the top U.S. automotive exporter in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The expansion will result in 9,000 employees, hired or contracted.
Less than two years ago Greer did not have any Class A industrial buildings that were 150,000-square-feet. After building the first spec building at Caliber Ridge, within two miles from Velocity Park, Liberty Property Trust had four buildings (150,000-square-feet each) and 500,000-square-feet leased by last December.
It was the foresight of Reno Deaton, Greer Development Corporation Executive Director, warning Greer City Council to fast-track industrial spec buildings.
“We have certainly evolved here in Greer,” Deaton said. “The hallmark of that area is its diversity of all the users in the park. Only a couple of them are of automotive.
“We’ve seen a number of prospects increase with demand for locating inside the city of Greer. And the size of the prospects has increased as well. Having a building of that size has the ability to have flexibility to attract a wide number of business interests,” Deaton said.
Mayor Rick Danner said he has come to appreciate the risk takers investing in the warehouses. “What’s interesting to me about Greer is the idea that warehouses would follow behind that one big project. People appear not to be waiting for the big ‘fish.’”
Cullum said he is landlocked on Brookshire Drive but, “From our original 131 acres in Velocity Park, we are in the process of acquiring more property that will triple (400 acres) what we have out there now.”
Danner has known Cullum through business and philanthropy within greater Greer. “Allen has an affinity for Greer,” Danner said. “It’s really an important message for developers. (Allen) is a developer who has cut his teeth on big projects and he’s done projects all over the country.
“I don’t think there is anything that can say anything stronger commercially than putting up a spec building,” Danner said. “That is putting your money where your mouth is.”
“Greer has a pro business climate,” Cullum said. “It has a good and competent labor force. Everything we buy, we’re bringing into the city of Greer and we’re adding significantly to the industrial tax base that will benefit our citizens.”
“It’s another story of a person connected to Greer,” Deaton said. “He’s been very good to Greer.”
Tim Robertson, Director of Industrial Leasing at Beacon, will lead the leasing efforts which will feature ESFR sprinkler system, 32-foot clear height, a 185-foot truck court to accommodate on-site trailer parking and ample vehicle parking for employees.