INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE GUIDE
What ’ s Old Is New Again
Turning some of Sacramento ’ s oldest and most historic business locations into digital-age facilities takes some creative thinking . Two sites that helped give the city its “ Sacratomato ” nickname are prime examples .
A groundbreaking ceremony was held last September to mark the start of the Capital Commerce Center , a $ 30 million redevelopment of the old Campbell ’ s Soup plant in south Sacramento . Hackman Capital Partners , in partnership with Rabin Worldwide , purchased the 129-acre site in 2013 and will eventually add 1.4 million square feet of manufacturing , distribution and industrial space .
Because the site no longer needed the 165-million-gallons-per-month sewage discharge rights , the developers were able to use a first-of-its-kind credit program to transfer or sell the rights to other Sacramento Regional County Sanitation
District customers as an incentive to bring the property back to life .
“ I think it is great to be able to work on a site that had such an impact on the community for so many years ,” says Cliff Moore , project manager at Alston Construction , though he adds that there are challenges in revitalizing a location that dates back to the end of World War II .
“ A site like this could potentially have a lot of unknowns ,” Moore says . “ Luckily for us , we are working with some great folks on the owner ’ s team that were around during their operations and have some good records of where things were located , which helps to minimize the surprises .” Moore says Alston ’ s in-house virtual design team provided 3-D scans of some of the existing structures to help the engineers with their design drawings .
The former Libby , McNeill & Libby cannery at Stockton and Alhambra Blvds . quickly employed 500 people when it opened in 1913 . Today , it ’ s the home of leading health care providers , cooperative workspace and a downsized Sacramento Bee , whose future is increasingly digital .
“ When you have the opportunity to keep something and reuse it , re-adapt it so it makes sense for today ’ s world — especially since The Cannery has such great bones and it ’ s beautiful — I think for the developer it makes sense ,” says Sarah Barkawi , vice president of marketing at Fulcrum Properties , which owns the distinctive 270,000-square-foot red brick building . “ For the tenants , it ’ s just cool to work in a building with that history .”
“ What ’ s going on there is on the cutting edge of what ’ s happening in Sacramento ,” she continues . “ It ’ s just neat it ’ s happening in one of the most historical buildings .”
— Ken Smith location between Sacramento and Woodland with access to major freeways can ’ t be beat for distribution purposes . The pandemic and corresponding online shopping have reemphasized the need to be able to warehouse and distribute regionally .”
Recognizing the advantages , NorthPoint Development purchased 130 acres at Metro Air Park in 2019 and has since developed five buildings on-site , including 1.1 million square feet for Walmart , 600,000 square feet for SC Johnson and 1.1 million square feet for Amazon . A sixth building is under construction now , with a seventh to break ground in April .
“ We like the dynamic of this location for the trend of big distribution users related to the e-commerce industry ,” says Geoff Griffin , NorthPoint ’ s west region partner . “ In general , airparks are strategic in the sense that companies like Amazon , UPS and FedEx have need for air freight access . Metro Air Park ’ s specific advantage is actually its location at the intersection of two of the largest interstate systems , Interstates 5 and 80 , for excellent eastwest and north-south movement of goods .”
STOCKTON SPECULATES FOR SUCCESS Stockton is getting its own fully-entitled masterplanned airpark on 272 acres of San Joaquin County-owned land just north of the Stockton Metropolitan Airport and along Highway 99 . Airpark 599 is a partnership between the county and Catellus Development Corporation . They entered into a master development agreement in October 2020 , with the county retaining ownership of the land and Catellus as the sole developer of the property .
In the works for more than 20 years , this project calls for a total of 3.47 million square feet of industrial space . Infrastructure and the first building of 1.18 million square feet are currently under construction . “ This first building is a warehouse built on speculation , with confidence of securing a tenant ,” says Sean Whiskeman , senior vice president of development and project manager with Catellus . “ We will be assessing what the market is capable of absorbing and proceed with additional speculative and buildto-suit buildings with anywhere from six to 10 total at buildout .”
In addition to becoming a first-class industrial warehouse park , Airpark 599 will provide new jobs to the community and install a significant amount of infrastructure in and around the project , such as widening portions of Arch Airport Road , a critical transportation artery that was extended in 2013 to connect Highway 99 and I-5 . “ The site is perfect for this type of development , the market supports it , we have a great partner in the County of San Joaquin and we ’ re excited to be underway with our first building ,” Whiskeman says .
74 comstocksmag . com | February 2022