Hempel Real Estate has proposed two new buildings that, if built, would bring over a half-million square feet of industrial space to the northwest submarket, according to a recently released environmental assessment worksheet.
The two warehouses are pitched in the city of Corcoran and would create 200,000 square feet and 340,000 square feet of space on a currently vacant 78 acres of land.
The project, dubbed Brockton Business Park by Hempel, is addressed at 10585 County Road 101, according to property tax statements. The intended uses of the properties are distribution and manufacturing, according to the EAW.
The project was pitched originally in March to the city of Corcoran as a concept plan, revisited in October to launch the EAW. The EAW is now in a period of public comment and will go back to the City Council for approval at its Feb. 13 meeting.
Finance & Commerce reached out to the city of Corcoran for this story.
Brandon Champeau, a vice president for development at Hempel, said in an email statement to Finance & Commerce that the site was chosen because of its location. It is near Interstate 94 and the Dayton Parkway interchange, Champeau said.
"It sits at the intersection of the Corcoran, Rogers, Dayton and Maple Grove borders, which is right in the heart of the region's most active industrial submarket," he said.
If the project receives all the permits it needs, the two buildings will be developed in phases, according to the EAW. Hempel will begin moving dirt in May 2025 and finish the first building in summer 2026, with the second building finishing a year later. Champeau said in the email that while Hempel anticipates developing in two stages, the lack of new development proposals have led Hempel to underwrite "both buildings together in one phase."
Champeau said that the property is speculative, though Hempel is pursuing tenants to lease the property, and that the company is "bullish" on the location and time of delivery. Development of speculative construction is down 73%, he said, because of "multiple uncertainties" in the market, including high interest rates, lack of data, and the uncertainty of the future of fiscal and trade policies as a result of the election.
"When developing speculatively though, we must identify where we think the market will be in 24 to 36 months, and we believe the economy will be on stable footing as we complete construction and leasing of our buildings," Champeau said.
The northwest submarket did have a handful of transactions occur in the last year. Earlier this month, two Endeavor-built warehouses in Maple Grove's Arbor Lakes Business Park sold for $66.5 million.
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