Graco Debuts 2nd Phase of 500 KSF Distribution Center

Graco groundbreaking ceremony. Image courtesy of Graco

Graco broke ground on the second phase of its 500,000-square-foot French Lake development project in Dayton, Minn. The facility will serve as the company’s main worldwide distribution center.

The development team includes general contractor McGough, architectural services team JLG and Tegra as project manager.

Last year, the company purchased 100 acres of undeveloped land in the Minneapolis suburb. Phase one of the project is slated for completion later this month, when two of Graco’s three business divisions currently operating in Minneapolis will relocate to this new facility. According to CommercialEdge data, the first building sits on 47.7 acres of land.

The entire project will include 392,000 square feet of manufacturing space, 70,000 square feet of office space and 70,000 square feet of lab space, according to information published by Sambatek, the civil engineering partner for the project.

The development site is located on the southeast corner of 124th Avenue N. and Brockton Lane N., with access to Interstate 94. Minneapolis is approximately 25 miles away. Other industrial facilities in the surrounding area are occupied by FedEx, Medline Industries, Budweiser, Archway and Diamond Lake Industrial Center, among others.

In July, Clayco affiliate CRG broke ground on The Cubes at French Lake, a more than 1 million-square-foot industrial development, only 3.6 miles away from Graco’s development site. The warehouse marks Minnesota’s largest-ever speculative industrial project and is slated for completion in early 2023.