Duke Realty to Build 618 KSF Cincinnati-Area Facility

By Keith Loria

Design Within Reach’s Williamsburg Township facility

Duke Realty Corp. has signed Design Within Reach to a long-term lease for a 617,760-square-foot build-to-suit, omni-channel distribution facility in Williamsburg Township, Ohio. The facility is projected to be completed in early 2019.

“[Design Within Reach] liked this because a large portion of their business goes to the East Coast so transportation works well,” Dan Colletto, Duke Realty’s vice president leasing and development, told Commercial Property Executive. “This is a state-of-the-art facility that will serve as its only omni-channel fulfillment center in the country.”

Top-of-the-line attributes

Dan Colletto, vice president of leasing and development, Duke Realty Corp.

According to Colletto, the property is designed to integrate modern features to enhance storage, distribution and fulfillment capabilities and will provide tremendous access to several major highways. Design Within Reach’s new cross-dock facility will boast 36-foot clear height and will be able to support up to 443 auto parking spaces and an additional 138 trailer storage stalls. The upcoming property can also be expanded by as much as 112,320 square feet.

The development will be situated on 46.8 acres in the South Afton Industrial Park, a 242-acre, shovel-ready campus started by the Clermont County Community Improvement Corp. in an effort to bring $1.5 billion in economic activity and create in excess of 1,800 jobs. Located just off Half Acre Road at S.R. 32, the property is just a short drive of four major interstates, including I-75, I-71, I-275 and I-77.

Design Within Reach has two other leases in buildings owned by Duke Realty in Northern Kentucky. “They have been our customer for more than 10 years,” Colletto said. “Our strategy is to grow our existing customer base. First and foremost, we always want them to expand.”

The company’s strategy is also centered around owning modern Class A bulk distribution buildings that work now and for the long term.

Earlier this year, Duke Realty—which owns, manages or builds approximately 10 million square feet of industrial space—started development of a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center in Bloomingdale, Ga., for Floor & Décor within the 250-acre Morgan Business Center. In December, the company acquired the Bayport Distribution Center II, a two-building industrial warehouse project in Houston’s suburb of Pasadena.

Images courtesy of Duke Realty Corp.