Panattoni buys state’s old liquor warehouse

Panattoni was already one of the most active industrial developers in the region, and now it plans to buy and expand the Washington State Liquor Control Board’s old distribution center.
The Newport Beach, California based company will remodel and add space to the office and industrial building at 4401 E. Marginal Way S., and end up with a total of 300,000 square feet on the 10-acre site.

The company has signed one tenant: CleanScapes, a waste management company that focuses on sustainability, will have a 75,000-square-foot recycling center there.

Bart Brynestad, executive vice president at Panattoni Development Co., said work on CleanScapes’ space will start immediately.

The sale is expected to close in early August. Panattoni wants to start the expansion in nine months and be done by next fall.

“It’s rare to find even a small building there for sale, let alone a large one with some land,” Brynestad said. “You usually have to go to the Kent Valley, mostly the south end of the Kent Valley, to find that kind of space.”

Craft Architects is designing the project, and Sierra Construction is the general contractor. Here are the other team members; Barghausen Consulting Engineers, civil engineer; Terra Associates, geotechnical engineer; Shutler Consulting Engineers; William Brown Landscape Architects; and Gibson Traffice Consultants.

Brokers from NAI Puget Sound Partners – John Vernon, Tamir Ohayon and Bob Swain – will head the search for tenants.

A few miles south, Panattoni is planning to buy an old storage yard at 9600 Eighth Ave. S. The company wants to develop two buildings there with a total of 200,000 square feet of space.
Brynestad said his company is moving ahead without a signed tenant and expects to begin construction next year. Here is the project team: Innova Architects, Sierra Construction, Barghausen Consulting Engineers, Terra Associates, Transportation Engineering North West and Group Mackenzie.

Kevin Skillestad and Michael Roy of Neil Walter Col. are handling the search for tenants.
Panattoni has projects all over the map in South Seattle, Kent Valley and Pierce County. Earlier this week, Panattoni was selected by the Port of Seattle to develop the 87-acre Des Moines Creek Business Park. It plans to build more than 2 million square feet in phases over the next seven years, and could start as early as next spring.

The company is adding staff to manage some of the new projects. Panattoni recently hired Donnie Belk as a development manager. He will work on the Liquor Control Board warehouse and Des Moines Creak Business Park.

Here are Panattoni’s other projects in the region:
*Two buildings are under construction in Sumner, both without a tenant. One will be 306,000 square feet and the other will be 121,000 square feet at 132nd Avenue East.

*In Auburn, Panattoni is building a 144,000-square-foot laundry for the Hospital Central Services Association. That building on M Street Northwest, north of 15th Street Northwest, is expected to be finished this summer.

* Construction will begin in August or September on a 75,000-square-foot distribution center in Snoqualmie.

*Brynestad said Panattoni is close to signing a tenant for a 30,000-square-foot industrial building in Puyallup. Construction could start in September.

Brynestad is in charge of the Seattle office, and said the industrial market here is strong. He said Panattoni is most active in Southern California, Houston and Dallas, but Seattle is next on the list.
The vacancy rate is low here, 5.7 percent, according to the real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, and tenants are snapping up available space. Bryenstad said the absorbtion rate here is strong and expected to continue, which gives his company confidence about building without tenants.
“I think it is going to be a pretty good market for the next couple of years,” he said. “After that we will have to see.”