Black Creek Group Breaks Ground on Bay Area Facility

500 Pittsburg Avenue rendering. Image courtesy of McShane Construction Co.

Soon after purchasing 165 acres of land for a 2 million-square-foot industrial campus in Dallas, Black Creek Group has broken ground on 500 Pittsburg Avenue, a 481,500-square-foot development in Richmond, Calif.

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HPA Inc. is the architect and McShane Construction Co. serves as general contractor for the speculative project slated for a November 2021 completion.

Initially dubbed Richmond Distribution Center III, the development will come online on a 34-acre site near the intersection of Pittsburg Avenue and Richmond Parkway in an Opportunity Zone, according to CommercialEdge. Public records show the developer purchased the site in 2018 from a subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank.

Upon completion, the single-story building will have a concrete tilt-wall panel exterior with storefront windows. The facility will feature a 36-foot minimum clear height, 84 dock-high and four grade-level doors and ESFR sprinklers. Colliers handles all leasing at the Class A property.

As e-commerce activity fuels demand for distribution space, a recent CommercialEdge report shows that the Bay Area had more than 2.9 million square feet of industrial space under construction as of December. The Oakland area specifically accounted for 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space underway in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a Colliers report. The area’s largest project under development is Bridge Point Oakland, a 534,208-square-foot warehouse slated for completion in the fourth quarter of 2021.

McShane’s role

Having joined the project during the pre-construction phase, McShane advised on budgeting and constructability, also overseeing the ground improvement strategy. During the first phase of development, the construction company performed various ground improvements including deep dynamic compaction and grading. Additionally, McShane will widen Richmond Parkway and Pittsburg Avenue and add turn lanes and traffic signals.

The property is 3 miles northwest of downtown Richmond and 16 miles northwest of downtown Oakland, with Port of Oakland within 16 miles south. The location is also 4 miles north of a 267,500-square-foot industrial facility acquired by Exeter Property Group for $50.1 million in November.