Chicago developer plans two buildings at TRIC

With about 4 million square feet of industrial space already under construction at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, a Chicago-area developer said last week it plans to add two more big buildings to the total.

An executive of McShane Corp. headquartered at Rosemont, Ill., said the company plans two buildings, each 560,000 square feet, at the giant industrial park along Interstate 80 east of Sparks.

General contractor on the buildings will be McShane Construction Corp.

McShane is developing the buildings as speculative projects and doesn't have signed leases in hand, said John Dobrott, a vice president in the company's office at Newport Beach, Calif.

But he said the company is confident it will find tenants for the industrial buildings to be developed in a two-phased program.

"The demand has been there," Dobrott said. "It's a great strategic location for businesses."

Leasing of the project will be handled by the Reno industrial group of CB Richard Ellis, which also represented the company in its purchase of the land.

McShane, a newcomer to the northern Nevada industrial development business, began looking seriously at the region when it was in competition to develop a build-to-suit distribution facility for PetSmart at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.

It didn't win that contract, which was landed by Global Corporate Services in a deal brokered by CB Richard Ellis.

But McShane executives liked what they saw in northern Nevada and decided to buy 52.5 acres in Eagle Canyon, the second phase of Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. The property is northeast of the intersection of Interstate 80 and USA Parkway, the new road in the industrial property.

Another 100-plus acres nearby has been purchased by Eagle Capital LLC, which hasn't said anything about its plans.

About a dozen projects totaling more than 4 million square feet are under way at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.

The largest of the projects under construction is the PetSmart distribution center. At 873,000 square feet, it's just a bit smaller than the 890,000-square-foot grocery distribution center operated nearby by Wal-Mart.

The PetSmart center is so big, in fact, that it will include 40,000 square feet the size of many traditional grocery stores devoted exclusively to fish and aquatic supplies.

United Construction of Reno is the builder of the PetSmart project.

But despite the giant buildings that are arising, Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is becoming home to some smaller companies as well.For instance, D.C. Collectors, a manufacturer of quality chocolates based at Santa Rosa, Calif., not long ago leased a newly constructed 19,451-square-foot building developed by Lanier One LP at the industrial center. The deal was negotiated by Gary Baker of The Baker Co. in Reno.

Lance Gilman, the broker for land in the center, says the first phase is expected to include 100 million square of industrial space when it's completed.

By comparison, the entire Reno-Sparks market today includes less than 68 million square feet of industrial space.