Bullish on Memphis, Atlanta’s Robinson Weeks to Start Next Month on Distribution Center in City Limits
Memphis, Tennessee’s distribution market is warming up, so much so that an Atlanta developer next month will start the city’s first speculative industrial building in a decade.
Robinson Weeks Partners said this week it plans to start construction in September on Memphis Global Crossing, a 421,470-square-foot distribution center in the Distriplex Farms development southeast of Memphis International Airport. The owner will be the Robinson Weeks Industrial Opportunity Fund.
While Memphis has seen its share of industrial buildings built for particular tenants, Memphis Global Crossing will be the first speculative distribution project started within the city limits in more than a decade, Robinson Weeks said.
Memphis leaders and city boosters hailed Robinson Weeks’ development as a sign that the city “is booming.”
“This is yet another great signal of the momentum we’re enjoying in Memphis,” Mayor Jim Strickland said. “It’s further proof that Greater Memphis’ energies are back within our city limits, and more and more companies are seeing the opportunity for growth in our city.”
International and national companies such as Nike, Target and FedEx, which has its World Hub in Memphis, have operations in the Southeast Memphis market, but there has been no significant construction this cycle other than a build-to-suit for TAG Truck Center at the former site of the Mall of Memphis.
“Limited construction and healthy demand has allowed vacancies to remain below the historical average since 2015,” a CoStar analysis of the Southeast Memphis market said. “As a result, rent growth has improved, and rents are well above their prerecession peak.”
The market’s overall industrial vacancy rate stands at 7.6 percent, according to CoStar. As a result, developers and investors are rediscovering the area.
“Memphis is on the rise with tremendous opportunities in the industrial market,” Robinson Weeks President David Welch said. “With vacancy rates at near 15-year lows and strong fundamentals, we are very bullish on Memphis. We look forward to expanding our presence here.”
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