One Stead project under way, DP Partners readies another

Even as United Construction Co. tilts the walls on a 230,550-square-foot distribution center developed by DP Partners in Stead, the Reno-based developer is planning another 240,000-square-foot project nearby.

Both projects show the continued strength of the industrial market in the Reno area as DP is building ahead of demand, figuring that tenants will arrive on the scene when the buildings are completed.

The building currently under construction at Sage Point Business Park is projected for completion in March. Michael McCabe, vice president of leasing for Reno's DP, said the company doesn't yet have any signed leases for the property.

He said the building either can be leased by a single user or might be divided into units as small as 45,000 square feet. It was designed by Blakely Johnson & Ghusn of Reno.

The building will include 30-foot ceilings higher ceilings are demanded by distribution centers these days along with bay spaces that are 50 feet by 50 feet. Parking for 182 vehicles will be constructed. The building has designation for a foreign-trade zone.

DP Partners expects to begin construction in mid-2007, meanwhile, on the next 240,000-square-foot building at Sage Point.

McCabe said DP Partners expects the current strong demand for industrial space in the region to continue into 2007. The vacancy rate in industrial properties in the Reno-Sparks area is estimated by brokers at under 5 percent one of the lowest figures in recent memory.

When it's complete, the 120-acre Sage Point Business Park at the corner of Lear Boulevard and Military Road in Stead will total more than 2 million square feet of industrial space. Tenants in the business park currently include United Parcel Service, Volvo, Overhead Door, Sherwin Williams and Carlisle FSP.

As the Truckee Meadows no longer has large industrial parcels available for development and projects move into outlying areas, DP Partners has positioned Sage Point as a location that's close to the labor supply of Stead and only six miles from Interstate 80.

In marketing to potential users elsewhere in the nation, DP Partners notes that distribution centers in the Reno-Sparks area are served by more than 65 local, regional and national trucking companies.