Major Construction Milestones have been Reached at Wonderful Real Estate's Latest 1 Million Square Foot Warehouse at 5104 Express Avenue at Wonderful Industrial Park
*Delivery Expected in April 2024*
*SHAFTER, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 20, 2023 /* Walls have been erected and other major construction milestones have been reached at *Wonderful Industrial Park's* (WIP) latest 1-million-square-foot speculative development. The project broke ground in May 2023 and panels began tilting in October 2023. In addition, most of the site underground utilities are in place, all of the building-walls are up, structural steel columns and beams have been erected, and roof joists and decking installation is well underway.
"Our quick pace has us on track to complete the build in early April of 2024. I'd like to thank our dedicated and hardworking Capital Projects construction management team, the excellent trade contractors we have on the project along with our professional design consultants, third-party inspection teams and local AHJ for coordinating and collaborating to make this build a great success." says *Tracy Burns-Lusich*, Director of Capital Projects at *The Wonderful Company* (TWC).
Ms. Burns-Lusich and the TWC Capital Projects' team are the lead supervisor and manager overseeing the construction of the building. Along with providing oversight on WIP's previous four speculative developments completed within the last five years, TWC's Capital Projects team has vast experience supervising the management and construction and ongoing capital improvements of all the company's brand facilities including its Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds processing facility in Lost Hills, CA, Pom Wonderful beverage processing facility in Del Rey, CA, Wonderful Citrus food manufacturing facility in Delano CA, JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery in Paso Robles, CA, and the Fiji Water production facility in Viti Levu, Fiji.
Figure 1: Construction Progress at 5104 Express Avenue
5104 Express Avenue will encompass nearly 1.09 million square feet on a 74-acre lot that will allow for ample parking with 455 auto spaces and 939 trailer stalls. The concrete tilt-up building will have a 40' clear-height and 216-dock high doors and 2 grade-level doors. The building will be ideal for distribution and manufacturing operations. More information on the project and additional footage of the construction progress can be found at www.5104express.com. The development is represented by *Phil Lombardo*, *Andrew Starnes*, and *Cruise Adams* of *Cushman & Wakefield*.
Pre-leasing activity is well underway and interest in the property is high, particularly since other industrial developers (public companies and especially private builders) have slowed or halted new development projects, due to capital constraints and market caution.
"The dearth of new projects being readied as we approach 2024 is causing many professionals in the industrial and logistics real estate sector to forecast that there will be scarcity of newly-built industrial inventory available to lease by the second half of 2024, which could lead to rental rate growth in the big box market." states *Phil Lombardo*, EVP of the Inland Empire Branch of *Cushman & Wakefield*
Demonstrating continued success with attracting tenants to its speculative developments, in 2022 WIP developed and leased over 1.3 million square feet, including a 1-million-square-foot speculative project that was leased by a Fortune 500 food manufacturer and operated by 3PL CJ Logistics, and a 309,000 square foot building leased by existing tenant GAF, the nation's largest manufacturer of roofing and waterproofing products.
The park's currently occupied footprint is over 10 million square feet with occupants including Amazon, Ross, Walmart, Target, American Tire Distributors, FedEx, Hillman, and DMSI. The park's current acreage allows for over 26 million square feet at full build out. At build out, it will be one of the largest industrial parks in the United States.
Located in Shafter, California, WIP is the geographical nexus for distribution to 11 Western states. The park is thoughtfully designed to create an extensive buffer between industrial and residential areas, directing traffic away from neighborhoods and schools, as well as offering amenities to benefit its local communities.
"In addition to our current spec development, we have a number of projects on the horizon that will improve transportation and access to and from the park as well as generate thousands of jobs in energy, logistics, transportation, and more," says *Jason Gremillion*, SVP of Development at *Wonderful Real Estate*. "The park is master-planned with a community-first approach to position our tenants and residents for long-term success."
In 2022, WIP opened its Wonderful Career Center (WCC), a 40,000-square-foot-center featuring state-of-the-art classrooms, offices, and lab facilities for use by WIP tenants, local schools, and Wonderful Company employees, providing valuable training and skills needed for upward economic mobility. Since opening, WCC has launched three training programs to promote careers in industrial automation, including the Maintenance Technician Apprenticeship (MTA) Program, Technical Operator Program (TOP), and Powered Industrial Truck (PIT) Program. All three programs are offered at no cost to the participants and participants are paired with employers at WIP and the broader community for on-the-job training and employment after completing the programs.
"We are committed to empowering the Central Valley community through training and skilled job placement opportunities. Our shared goal is to cultivate career growth and uplift individuals, enabling them to create a lasting impact within our esteemed Wonderful Career Center and the broader community," said *Kenny Spratt*, Director of Talent Partnerships for Corporate Social Responsibility at The Wonderful Company. More information on the programs offered at WCC can be found at www.wonderfulcareercenter.com.
*About Wonderful Industrial Park*
WIP is a fully entitled 1,625-acre, world-class distribution center located approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The park is a rail-served industrial development, entitled for 26 million square feet, more than 10 million square feet has been completed and is operational to date. WIP provides tenants with access to a workforce population of over 700,000 residents within a 30-minute drive from the park.
WIP's central location in California gives companies access to a robust transportation infrastructure. The property is minutes from Hwy-99, I-5 and Hwy-58 and offers convenient port access to the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Oakland. The industrial park's location allows access to 14 percent of the U.S. population within 300 miles and same-day delivery to 30 million Californians. It has a FedEx Ground hub onsite and is near a UPS ground hub in Bakersfield, CA with Meadows Field Airport located only seven miles away.
The park features an onsite rail yard with more than 17,000 feet of track able to accommodate unit trains with direct access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway's mainline. WIP is equipped with an in-place high speed fiber optics network with 10 gigabytes in place with capacity of 40 gigabytes.
For more information visit: https://www.wonderfulindustrialpark.com/
*About Wonderful Real Estate*
Wonderful Real Estate is a professional real estate development and property management company owned by The Wonderful Company that develops, manages and invests in a diversified portfolio of real estate, with a particular focus on office and industrial properties. Leveraging over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate, Wonderful and its affiliates currently have over 10 million square feet of real estate holdings, consisting of owner-occupied industrial and commercial real estate for its operating businesses and approximately 7 million square feet of actively managed office and industrial properties occupied by third parties located mainly in Southern and Central California.
Wonderful Real Estate and its affiliates have invested almost $2 billion since 2008 in commercial real estate development, facility improvements, processing equipment and real estate acquisitions. Wonderful and its affiliates are also currently developing three business parks totaling over 1,865 acres for office and industrial use in California's Central Valley, several parcels of which have already been sold or leased to Fortune 500 companies and other high-quality anchor tenants.
Media Contacts: Gary Marsh 415.999.3793 or gary@marshmarketing.com and
Erin Poulson Morris 310.966.5748 or erin.poulson.morris@wonderful.com
*SOURCE:* Wonderful Real Estate
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