Duke Realty Announces Build-To-Suit Facility For ILLUME

Duke Realty Corp. DRE recently announced developing a 277,222-square-foot build-to-suit facility in Maple Grove for Minneapolis-based ILLUME. The building will serve as new headquarters for the candle manufacturer.

The construction of the facility, which will have office/manufacturing/warehouse spaces, is scheduled to commence in second-quarter 2018 and significant completion is expected in first-quarter 2019.

Specifically, the building is being built on 12.65 acres of land and will have more than 20,000 square feet of Class A office space on two levels. In addition, there will be more than 75,000 square feet of light manufacturing, 36′ clear height, and parking for accommodation of up to 275 cars.

The facility with modern features will be positioned within Duke Realty's master-planned project — Arbor Lakes Business Park — situated adjacent to Arbor Lakes Retail. Further, with amenities, such as more than 140 retailers, 65 restaurants and five hotels in its vicinity, the property will likely help ILLUME lure more employees and drive growth.

Notably, Duke Realty had resorted to the sale of sub-urban office assets and medical-office buildings in the past, in a bid to transform into a domestic-focused industrial property REIT. The latest move is in sync with its expansion efforts and the company already enjoys ownership of approximately five million square feet of industrial space in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

In addition, recently, the company completed the acquisition of a 3.1-million-square-foot industrial property in New Jersey. The move has helped the company expand its New Jersey industrial portfolio to 5.6 million square feet.

As a matter of fact, the industrial real estate asset category has grabbed attention, of late, due to elevated demand, recovering economy and job market, strengthening e-commerce market, and a healthy manufacturing environment.

Duke Realty is well positioned to benefit from escalating demand for industrial properties by offering modern distribution facilities at strategic in-fill locations. The company enjoys ownership and operations of industrial properties spread across nearly 146 million rentable square feet of space. These properties are located across 21 key logistics markets. However, large-scale asset dispositions are expected to have a dilutive effect on earnings in the near term. Further, stiff competition and rate hike remain concerns.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report