April 7, 2017

LA developer proposes 1.3M sf warehouse project for DuPont

A Los Angeles-area industrial developer could redevelop a former Intel Corp. business park in DuPont.

Bruce Haas, managing partner of Industrial Redevelopment, has filed a permit application with the city to demolish a pair of office buildings at DuPont Corporate Center and build three new warehouse distribution buildings totaling 1.3 million square feet.

The site address is 2800 Center Drive.

Work could start later this year or as soon as all the needed permits are issued.

The Intel campus opened in 1996 with the potential to employ thousands of workers. Yet by the time the Silicon Valley-based tech company announced it was closing the facility last year, only about 350 employees were working there. Now it's down to a handful.

Intel initially planned to use the site for manufacturing, “but their business model changed and the market changed,” said DuPont Mayor Mike Courts. “The facility never recognized its full potential.”

Industrial Redevelopment acquired the 93-acre business park with Fortress Investments in 2014 for $41 million.

The firm continues to market the available office and warehouse space on its website.

Bruce Haas at Industrial Redevelopment told the DJC that getting the redevelopment proposal ready “gives us the flexibility to fill the site,” though no decisions have been made whether the project will go forward.

The proposal would involve construction of a 1 million-square-foot warehouse and two 168,000-square-foot warehouses. An existing 340,700-square-foot warehouse would remain.

The campus would also have 629 parking stalls and another 263 stalls for truck trailers. Twenty-two hundred existing parking spaces would be removed.

Craft Architects is designing the project. A general contractor has not been selected.

Additional work would include new landscaping, utility improvements, truck maneuvering areas, stormwater facilities, and water and sewer extensions.

Development could proceed in three phrases, depending on market demand. No future expansions or additions are planned, according to a document filed with the city of DuPont.

Around 500 employees are expected to work in the completed redevelopment.

The DuPont mayor said he believes the redevelopment will go forward, though nothing is final yet.

“It's a good project,” he said. “Any time you can get jobs and taxpayers that's a good thing.”

A project permit application notice is available on the city's website at bit.ly/2oEtec0. Comments are due today to planning director Jeff Wilson at jwilson@dupontwa.gov. A public hearing has been tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. April 28 at DuPont City Hall.