Amazon facilities in Kenosha sold for $176 million, called a Chicago area industrial record
The $176 million sale of Kenosha’s iconic Amazon distribution center that provided jobs for thousands over the past three years is being called the largest industrial real estate sales deal in the Chicago metro area.
Amazon, which was leasing the two distribution buildings from ATR Capital Partners, which built them, will continue to operate as usual under an existing long-term lease.
The fulfillment center is located at 3501 120th Ave. and the adjacent sortation center is at 1121 Burlington Rd.
The new owner is the New York-based KKR, a real estate investment firm. KKR also announced on Wednesday that it had purchased another Amazon fulfillment center property in Kannapolis, a Charlotte, N.C., suburb, from Morgan Stanley for $84 million.
Amazon’s distribution buildings comprise some 1.6 million square feet. The purchase brings more than 2.5 million square feet of industrial distribution properties into KKR’s industrial real estate portfolio.
Both of the newly acquired properties are state-of-the art fulfillment centers with an average vintage of 2017.
Kenosha is a city in and the county seat of Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. Kenosha is on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. With an estimated population of 99,889 as of July 1, 2013, it is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin and the fourth-largest city on Lake Michigan. The city is part of the United States Census Bureau’s Chicago Combined Statistical Area (CSA).
Kenosha, decades ago a bustling hub of manufacturing, is today a bedroom community because of the ease of access to the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. According to county statistics, 49% of Kenosha’s workforce commutes outside of Kenosha County to their positions. Many travel northward towards Milwaukee or south into the Chicago area.
One Amazon FBA fulfillment center located in Kenosha:
#MKE1–3501 120th Ave. Kenosha, WI, 53144-7502–Kenosha County
The facility allows Amazon the greatest product density while keeping the building footprint to a manageable size.
This distribution and sortation project for Amazon includes a 1,017,879-square-foot fulfillment facility with 1,418,106 square feet of mezzanine and 514,000-square-foot sortation facility constructed on a 200 acre site.
Previously an active farm field, the site contained 180,000 cubic yards of over burdened topsoil, which was hauled off-site. Clayco overcame a brutally cold winter with frost depths up to 5’ and an excessively wet spring to complete the project on time and on budget.
This facility allows Amazon the greatest product density while keeping the building footprint to a manageable size by utilizing a series of stacked mezzanines in order to take advantage of all the available interior vertical space and the two buildings are connected via conveyor bridge.
The sortation facility is constructed of precast concrete walls, sloped TPO roof and a bridge to connect with the adjacent AR sort fulfillment center. The bridge was constructed following completion of the sortation center complete with fire rated coiling doors and wrapped in insulated metal panels. The sortation center comes complete with an MDF Room, an extensive security entrance, a battery charging area, and 110 dock positions. Coordination was key as drawings for the MHE came later in construction. The fire protection contractor had to add sprinklers underneath the conveyors in order for temporary occupancy to be achieved. The conveyors were installed by a contractor directly hired by Amazon and they didn’t begin construction until roughly 1 month before the temporary certificate of occupancy was scheduled. Many evenings and weekends were worked in order to maintain the TCO date and this was a huge accomplishment.
