Binswanger Secures 2.1 MSF Lease for Conair

A build-to-suit distribution center for Conair within the Mid-Atlantic Crossings development in Hagerstown, Md. Image courtesy of Binswanger

Consumer-products company Conair has signed a 10-year lease for an approximately 2.1 million-square-foot distribution center now under construction in Washington County, Md.

Binswanger assisted Conair in the planning, site selection, demographics and labor analytics, brokerage, and lease negotiations for the facility. The project is at 10440 Downsville Pike and 17250 Sterling Road, immediately outside Hagerstown. It’s just south of I-70 and roughly a mile and a half east of its interchange with I-81.

The facility is in Trammell Crow’s Mid-Atlantic Crossings development. While the project was originally planned as two separate 1 million-square-foot warehouses, Binswanger worked with the parties to redesign the development so that it can be operated as a single contiguous building.

The new warehouse reportedly will be the largest in Maryland. It’s well underway, though a timeline for delivery has not been disclosed.

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Conair is a major manufacturer of health and beauty products and kitchen appliances and in particular is one of the largest producers of hair care appliances. Its brands include Cuisinart, Conair, BaByliss, Scünci and Waring.

A build-to-suit distribution center for Conair within the Mid-Atlantic Crossings development in Hagerstown, Md. Image courtesy of Binswanger

In a prepared statement, Binswanger President & CEO David Binswanger said that like many other large companies in the wake of the pandemic, Conair wanted to consolidate its assets and find a strategic location as close to its customers as possible.

Binswanger Senior Vice President & Partner Chris Pennington brokered the deal with assistance from fellow Senior Vice Presidents Tim Pennington and Mike Torsiello. John Dues Sr., vice chairman of Binswanger Advisory Services Inc., conducted demographic, labor and incentive analyses for the Hagerstown site.

Binswanger has a long-standing relationship with Conair, having been retained by the company in 2019 to assist in the search for and sublease of 500,000 square feet of warehouse space in central Pennsylvania.

Stable industrial market

Industrial space demand in the Washington County/Hagerstown market was basically flat, with only 2,250 square feet of absorption, according to a second-quarter report from Colliers.

The delivery of Interstate Trade Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot on Oak Ridge Drive, pushed vacancy by more than 4.4 percentage points, to 18.5 percent at the end of the quarter. “Overall direct asking rental rates in the market remained stable, ending the quarter at $6.03 per square foot on a triple net basis,” Colliers reported.