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DEVELOPER PULLS TRIGGER ON $50M LOGISTICS PROJECT NEAR I-65

A California-based developer has paid $9.3 million for a 95-acre piece of land in white-hot Whitestown where it plans to build a mammoth logistics building in excess of 1 million square feet, although it doesn’t yet have a user for the space.

Development already is under way on the $50 million project in Crossroads Logistics Center, east of the intersection of Interstate 65 and Highway 267. It will be located northeast of the corner of Albert S. White Boulevard and South County Road 500E. The location is approximately catercorner to a 400,000-square-foot Amazon distribution facility on the other side of Albert S. White Boulevard.

CT Realty of Newport Beach, California, acquired the land earlier this month from Indianapolis-based GDI Cos., which master planned Crossroads and will provide construction services through its affiliate, GDI Construction. The 1,016,244-square-foot project is expected to be complete in late 2019.

The project is being built “on spec,” meaning tenants have not yet been signed but the developer is bullish enough on the market to go ahead and break ground.

“This project fits squarely within our investment strategy to develop world class logistics centers near transportation infrastructure and significant population centers,” said Rob Huthnance of CT Realty in a media release Monday announcing the land acquisition.

“Development activity in the immediate submarket has been brisk in recent years, although there remains a void of larger industrial buildings. Were this building delivered today, it would be the only building over one million square feet in the market,” Huthnance said.

The Whitestown area near I-65 has been deluged in recent years with announcements, groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings for manufacturing and distribution companies, with millions of square feet of projects complete or in process. Developers and companies occupying these large buildings say the Boon County suburb’s access to the interstate and proximity to Indianapolis are big draws.

Crossroads Logistics Center formerly was referred to as Fishback Creek Business Park, but recently was rebranded.

GDI was represented in the sale of the land by Terry Busch of real estate brokerage CBRE, who also will handle leasing the building.