by Lindsay Peyton
Real estate broker Dan Mathews, with the firm Kidder Mathews, represented both seller and buyer in a recent transaction – selling 14 acres located at 1010 South 146th St. to Bridge Development Partners, LLC, a Chicago-based industrial and office developer.

The property sold for $3.5 million – with an additional $1 million spent for the purchase of two adjacent homes.

Western Distribution Services, a Renton-based logistics, cold storage, warehouse provider, will become the first tenant of the space. The company will build a 241,140 square foot food cold storage facility on the site.

The property is part of the Northeast Redevelopment Area (NERA) of Burien, an industrial-zoned site adjacent to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The area was created in 1997.

The City of Burien, in partnership with the Port of Seattle, shared a vision for using the land to build a sustainable development, which would be compatible with the needs of the airport.

Responding to market forces and regional economic realities, was key, Mathews said.

He explained that plans to revitalize the land have been brewing for the past 10 years.

The location of the land – close to the port and the airport – made it prime property for development, Mathews added.

Mathews envisioned a food production campus – with cold storage being as an ideal first step.

“In the future, they could add processing to the building or do processing across the street,” he said. “There’s extra parking built onto the site, if business expands. I wanted to create a campus that would build synergy.”

He described Western Distribution Services as an “anchor tenant” on the campus.

“This is a major industrial building,” Mathews said. “This is something that adds a lot of jobs. It’s a kick-off project. We’ll see what happens next.”

He said that Northeast Redevelopment Area properties represents one opportunity for the Port of Seattle’s “Century Agenda,” created in 2012, which aims to add 100,000 jobs over the next 25 years.

Mathews believes the project will spur economic development for years to come.

He said that Western Distribution Services is an ideal business to set-up shop in Burien.

“They’re a family-owned business, and they believe in community,” Mathews said.
 
Western Distribution Services president John Naylor said the facility will house a freezer operating at negative 10 degrees Fahrenheit, a chill room at 34 to 38 degrees and another chill room at 43 degrees. There will also be more than 125 parking spots.

“Our facility will be energy efficient and have the latest technology standards to insure we meet or beat quality standards for the Pacific Northwest,” Naylor said. “This site is a good location for our company, because it has easy access to I5 and I405, as well as 509 and the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.”

He anticipates opening the new location by April 2017. “This will be a state of the art facility, with the capacity to handle the needs of the region for the near future,” he said.

For more information about Western Distribution Services, visit www.wdscold.com.
For more information about Kidder Matthews, visit kiddermathews.com.
For more information about Bridge Development Partners, visit bridgedev.com.