12/18/2005 - Huge center aims at industry - $15 million JeffMet space built on speculative basis
 December 18, 2005
Huge center aims at industry
$15 million JeffMet space built on speculative basis
By Michael Tomberlin, News staff writer
The Jefferson Metropolitan Park in McCalla is getting a new
industrial building nearly the size of two Wal-Mart Supercenters
in hopes of attracting new companies.
Graham & Co. is developing the $15 million, 380,380 square-foot
distribution center in the JeffMet McCalla park, which is owned
and operted by the Jefferson County Economic and Industrial
Development Authority.
The entire building is being built on a speculative basis, meaning
there are no commitments for any of the space by tenants prior to
construction.
Erecting such a large building without anything set to go into it
might seem daring, but Graham has had success with similar
projects in JeffMet McCalla.
The company has completed two spec buildings in the park and
at one time had both fully leased, though some space remains.
Combined, Graham will have 920,920 square feet of buildings
in the park when the new building is complete.
We're excited about this new facility because of the location
in the nicest industrial park in the Birmingham area." said Mike Graham,
president of Graham & Co.
He said there is already interest from two prospects. The building
has space for up to four tenants or could be leased to one large one.
Graham brokers Sonny Culp and Jack Brown are tasked with
leasing the center.
The building, being built by Cooper Construction Co., was designed by
Designform Inc. The same team recently completed a 520,000-square-foot
warehouse for Mercedes-Benz near its plant in Vance.
Graham's purchase of the 32-acre site leaves only six parcels of
20 acres or larger each in the park for other industrial and distribution projects.
Several smaller interior sites also remain for other types of development.
The project is the first in the second phase of the industrial park
and makes the park more than half full with 350 acres of developable
land remaining.
Deborah McGill, executive director of the authority, said having the
building is a sign of growth and faith in an already active park.
"It shows that Graham & Co. has confidence in the future industrial
economic growth of our area," McGill said.
Because it is capable of adding several different companies
of varying sizes and industries, the building also helps in further
diversification of the park, McGill said. "We are already a very diverse
park and this will only add to that," she said.
Office Max Inc. has a distribution center in the park, Plastipak
Packaging Inc., which produces plastic containers in what was once a
speculative building. Being 30 minutes from the Mercedes plant
also helped attract automotive, Plastech and Decoma to the park.
Decoma is a tenant with space in Graham's other two building in the
park, which also have some warehousing and distribution space for
Plastipak and D&K Healthcare Resources Inc. a pharmaceutical distributor.
All of the companies in the park have invested hundreds of millions
of dollars and created thousands of jobs.
In addition to JeffMet, the Jefferson County authority owns property
for a business park on Lakeshore Parkway where Wachovia Corp.
is building a data center. Known as JeffMet Lakeshore, the park has
266 acres fordevelopment and is anchored by the $400 million
Wachovia center.
The authority is also overseeing the redevelopment of the former
Trinity Steel site downtown with hopes of bringing new projects to the
27 acres purchases through an alliance of Birmingham and Jefferson County.
Having a spec building to show is perhaps the most important factor
in attracting new industry to an area, according to Ted vonCannon,
president of the Metropolitan Development Board - the head industry
recruiter for Birmingham and surrounding areas.
"More than anything, 75 to 80 percent of projects are looking for
an existing building that allows them to get production up and going
and be in business quicker," vonCannon said. "Spec buildings
draw more attention to your community and bring in a number of
prospects that wouldn't come otherwise."
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