Reno's DP Partners rolls out brand-name logistics centers

If Aaron Paris has his way, drivers

accustomed to seeing the brands of

national hotels and restaurants along U.S.

highways soon will recognize another

brand LogisCenter.

DP Partners, the big Reno-based developer

of industrial properties, said last week

it's begun construction on the first of its

properties to carry the trademarked

LogisCenter brand - the 200-acre

LogisCenter at Carlisle near Harrisburg in

central Pennsylvania.

Paris, the executive vice president and

chief operating officer of DP Partners, said

the time is right for a nationally branded

network of distribution and industrial

properties.

Most of the companies that lease from

DP Partners are national outfits with multiple

locations.

The LogisCenter brand, he said, is

intended to give DP Partners a head

start in leasing as potential tenants recognize

the name and the sorts of properties

it represents.

Like other properties that will carry the

LogisCenter brand, the Pennsylvania center

will be big.

The first building covers 800,000 square

feet, and it's only one of five structures DP

Partners plans at the site.

The building is the largest spec building

ever undertaken by DP Partners. The company

will invest more than $20 million in

the structure, Paris said, along with several

million more dollars in the infrastructure

that will serve the entire property.

A wide paved corridor with a middle

turning lane will run through the park.

Plenty of staging area is provided for

semi-trailer trucks to maneuver. The property

will fully be landscaped and include

curbs and gutters.

Just as important, Paris said, is the

location of the Pennsylvania property and

others that will carry the LogisCenter

brand.

Good access by highway, air and intermodal

transport to serve nearby markets is

critical. Factors ranging from labor costs

to haul rates get a look before DP

Partners takes on one of the projects.

That analysis, Paris said, recognizes the

fact that real estate accounts for only

about 10 percent of the supply-chain costs

of its tenants.

In fact, he said, the choice of the

LogisCenter name also is intended to

remind employees of DP Partners that

they're in the logistics industry, rather

than the real estate business.

While DP Partners is undertaking

LogisCenter at Carlisle as a speculative

project, Paris said the company is confident

it can lease the space.

"I'm amazed at the response we've gotten

already," he said. "We've had tremendous

response."

The company plans to build a

LogisCenter at Las Vegas, with details to

be announced this autumn, and is studying

possible location of another facility in

Founded 42 years ago, DP Partners

has a portfolio of nearly 20 million square

feet across the nation. It's one of the

largest industrial developers in the United

States. Capital for its projects come from

partners that include the California Public

Employees Retirement System and the

investment house of Lazard Fre'res & Co.