Huge distribution center kicks off Tracy industrial park

By Reed Fujii

Record Staff Writer

Posted Nov. 6, 2014

TRACY — A private developer and Tracy city officials Thursday formally launched construction of a 1 million-square-foot distribution center in the new Prologis International Park of Commerce.

It is the first project to be built within the 1,800-acre Cordes Ranch area of west Tracy — annexed by the city last year with broad plans to develop industrial, commercial and retail ventures generating as many as 36,000 jobs at full build out — as well as only the second major speculative development, built without a tenant in hand, in San Joaquin County since the Great Recession.

Scott Lamson, Prologis Inc.’s Northwest region president, expressed confidence a customer for the state-of-the-art logistics center will be found before too long.

“We’ve seen strong demand, not just out of our portfolio but marketwide, and really strong interest in this park and its location,” Lamson said, citing the project’s proximity to the Bay Area and the transportation assets of San Joaquin County, including major freeways, two railroad intermodal yards, as well as the seaports of Stockton and Oakland.

“There is really no other building being built in the Central Valley like this, so were really very excited about the opportunity it presents ourselves and the city,” Lamson said.

Even more tickled was Tracy Mayor Brent Ives, who said, “We’re ecstatic.”

He said the project is the beginning payoff to years of work by city officials. Their aim is to help Tracy’s many commuter residents, who often spend hours a day in their cars and on mass transit shuttling to the Bay Area, find work close to home.

“That’s the best thing we can do for somebody’s quality of life, is to take their commute away; provide jobs over here,” Ives said.

Many people may not realize the time, effort and investment the city and Tracy officials made to bring Cordes Ranch and the Prologis park into reality.

“The hard part was working on those sort of things during the recession,” Ives said.

“Most cities were looking around for, ‘How in the world are we going to survive the recession,’ ” he said. “While we had some of that, we also had some of that strategic planning that got us to this point.”

Breaking ground on the distribution center just northeast of Mountain House Parkway and West Schulte Road, Prologis looks to expand its existing Central Valley building portfolio of 10.2 million square feet of building space, which is currently 100 percent leased, Lamson said.

The Prologis International Park will contain about 19 million square feet at full build out, nearly tripling the global industrial developer’s Valley holdings.

More than distribution and warehousing projects are on the way, Lamson said.

The project is designed to accommodate multiple light industrial uses, including manufacturing, research-and-development, office, commercial and retail projects.

And Ives promised more good news for Tracy and the regional San Joaquin County economy is on the way. The city is working with two companies looking to set up shop in the area, but details are being withheld until there are firm commitments.

“There’s going to be 1,000 jobs right there,” he said.

“I think every year for the foreseeable future, there is going to be announcements of jobs (from Cordes Ranch projects) and that’s perfect for San Joaquin right now. That’s what we need.”

San Francisco-based Prologis is an industrial development company that owned and managed more than 30 million square feet of logistics and distribution space in Northern California and owned or had investments in about 585 million square feet of projects in 21 countries as of Sept. 30. Its stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PLD. 

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20141106/NEWS/141109685/101038/A_BIZ