Last year certainly won’t go down as a banner year for commercial real estate. That doesn’t mean, though, that big deals didn’t get done.
Just look at the big industrial deal that Michael Mullady and Jeff Lyons closed last year for CB Richard Ellis.
Mullady, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis, and Lyons, senior associate, represented Mars Petcare as it acquired a new national distribution center in the Columbus, Ohio, region.
Thanks to the work of the two brokers, Mars Petcare now boasts a new state-of-the-art headquarters in the Columbus suburb of West Jefferson, a building that resulted from the combination of two existing facilities and totals 1.3 million square feet on 80 acres.
The 10-year lease transaction closed in late 2010, and construction on the building — a build-to-suit project by Duke Realty — is expected to wrap up in the middle of 2011. The transaction also boasts the honor of ranking as the largest industrial lease transaction in Ohio last year.
Best of all, the project should help Mars Petcare operate far more efficiently. And in today’s tough business climate, that’s crucial.
“The consolidation and upgrade to a state-of-the art distribution facility will allow our client to realize operating efficiencies and savings,” said Mullady.
It’s encouraging to hear about such large transactions. There haven’t been enough of them in recent years. Hopefully, CB Richard Ellis’ Mars Petcare deal is a sign of better things to come.
