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A Sanford firm believes the industrial market is on the upswing in Seminole County, and plans to break ground on 256,000 square feet of distribution and flex space by mid-Fall.
McKee Construction Inc. will build the five-building project on 15.8 acres at the northeast corner of Monroe Road and Narcissus Avenue. The project will be south of a FedEx Ground distribution center.
McKee President Bobby Von Herbulis said he will present site plans to the city of Sanford's Development Review Team within two weeks.
"We're moving full bore on this thing. The timing is right," Von Herbulis told GrowthSpotter, noting that he is seeing increased demand for industrial space.
He said lower rents than other industrial markets in the region is driving demand, as well as easy access to Interstate 4 and S.R. 417.
"Plus, it takes less time to go through permitting and plans review in Sanford," Von Herbulis said. "In some other communities, that could take up to a year. We think it will take half the time in Sanford."
About a half mile east of Von Herbulis' project, Chris Kelley is planning to build as much as 550,000 square feet of industrial space on 70 acres of family-owned land.
The first phase of Von Herbulis' project will be a 165,000-square-foot distribution center for Ganesh Mills, a textile manufacturer of linens for the hospitality industry under the Oxford Super Blend name.
Ganesh, which owns the 15.8 acres it hired McKee to develop, ships some 40 million textile items annually, according to its website. The company currently has a 72,000-square-foot distribution center in Oviedo, which it has outgrown, said Von Herbulis. An official from Ganesh was unavailable for comment.
Von Herbulis said Phase 2 of the project would be to build four tilt-up buildings totaling 90,000 square feet of flex space for office and light industrial needs. Von Herbulis currently does not have tenants for those buildings.
The overall investment is about $14 million and will be financed by traditional bank loans.
"We're still finalizing a banker because we haven't executed the construction agreements yet," said Von Herbulis.
Civilcorp Engineering Inc. of Altamonte Springs provided the civil engineering work. The architect is Architectural Dynamics Inc. of Orlando.
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