CRG Completes Minnesota’s Largest Spec Industrial Building

CRG has completed The Cubes at French Lake, a 1 million-square-foot Class A industrial property in Dayton, Minn. The developer hired CBRE as exclusive leasing agent for the facility.

According to CRG, this is Minnesota’s largest speculative industrial project to date and its first super-bulk distribution facility. The development team included CRG’s parent company, Clayco, as general contractor and Lamar Johnson Collaborative as designer.

CRG started work on the property in 2022 and obtained $61.1 million in construction financing, provided by First National Bank of Omaha, CommercialEdge data shows.

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The Cubes at French Lake is at 11500 Dayton Parkway N. The cross-dock facility features 40-foot clear heights, ESFR sprinkler systems, 100 grade-level dock doors with the possibility to add 69 others, four drive-in doors, 60-foot speed bays, a 185-foot depth truck court, 231 trailer parking spots and 652 vehicle parking spaces. The property also features a 3,950-square-foot office space, weather seals, surface-mounted fire extinguishers and 4,000 amps of power.

Located on 65 acres close to Interstate 24 via the Dayton Parkway interchange, the building is 26 miles from Minneapolis, 33 miles from Saint Paul and within 39 miles of Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Other industrial users in the area include King Solutions Inc., T.J. Maxx, Graco Inc. and FedEx.

CBRE’s Senior Vice Presidents Dan Swartz and James DePietro, together with Senior Associate Austin Lovin, are in charge of leasing the industrial asset.

Twin Cities development lagging other Midwest metros

Twin Cities had 1.5 million square feet of space under construction, a recent CommercialEdge report shows. Compared to other midwestern markets, the metro had the smallest pipeline, while Chicago led with 13.2 million square feet, followed by Kansas City (10.8 million square feet) and Detroit (7.9 million square feet).

Among the notable industrial projects completed last year, The Opus Group added 380,000 square feet to its Minneapolis footprint. The developer wrapped up Nordeast Business Center in Minneapolis, totaling 130,439 square feet, the Sanctuary Business Center in Blaine, Minn.—encompassing 137,178 square feet—and the 111,820-square-foot Johnny Cake Business Center in Apple Valley, Minn.