Speculative Development Driving Licking County Success
The construction of modern speculative developments has been driving large-scale success in Licking County, enabling users to quickly locate and begin production as speed to market continues to dominate location decisions.
In Licking County, at least 4.2 million square feet of speculative development have been announced, ranging from 20,000 to 1.2 million square feet for both manufacturing and logistics purposes.
TPA Group is proposing a 1.2 million square foot warehouse and distribution facility in the City of Pataskala after previous speculative developments in Etna Township succeeded in attracting users Ashley Furniture and Amazon. Those two projects resulted in over 385 committed new jobs and $105 million in investment. TPA has large-scale plans in Pataskala including up to five additional buildings.
Core5 is investing in Licking County for the first time with over 1 million square feet with two speculative developments. Currently construction is wrapping up on 437,000 square feet at 1225 Southgate Parkway. Core5 is planning to construct an additional 600,000 square foot facility on 40 acres. Both are located within the Etna Township Industrial Park (see video).
New to the region, South Carolina-based Red Rock has proposed two speculative development facilities totaling approximately 2 million square feet west of Etna Parkway at the Pataskala Corporate Park.
CRG, a Clayco affiliate, produced a 1.2 million square foot speculative development facility and quickly attracted Kohl’s to the site at The Cubes at Etna 70 before it was completed. Kohl’s is in the final construction stages and has committed to hiring over 650 employees at the site but expects the number to be much greater. Total investment for the project tops $293 million.
CRG controls 100 adjacent acres on either side of Route 310 at I-70. Sites are padded and permits have been pulled. Future development could top 1.6 million square feet total.
The Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority has long been a proponent of speculative development. They recently announced plans to move dirt this summer on a 30,000 – 45,000 square foot building at 1680 James Parkway in Heath marking their 11th speculative development in 11 years on the campus of Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology campus. Currently the campus boasts an available 65,000 – 120,000 square foot speculative development facility.
While 4.2 million square feet of speculative development has been announced, the potential for developer-driven speculative development could top 10 million square feet in the coming years. Drivers include appropriately zoned land, utilities with excess capacity serving the site, and Licking County’s award-winning workforce. For more information on available real estate in Licking County, check out our real estate database here.