Monday, August 6, 2012

Hoyt leases up, won't redevelop Deere site - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Instead, Brad Hoyt's has found two largre tenants to lease most ofthe 400,000-square-foot He's also planning to build more industrialk space on the 41-acre site. Lakeville-based Progressiver Rail Inc., a short-line railroad that serveds thesouth metro, has leasec more than half of the Package delivery operator DHL International leasexd the remaining space and has an optio to expand. Hoyt had considered multiple uses for the site at the cornere of 94th Street and PennAvenuse South, including big-box retail and a proposal for a mixed-uss church-oriented athletic village.
But after meetint with Bloomington officialsthis summer, Hoyt decided the site was best suiteed for industrial tenants that would support good Moline, Ill.-based Deere shuttered its distributiob center at the site in early 2005. The company once had 130 employeeswon site, but that number had dwindledr to fewer than 50 last Hoyt spent several months trying to figure out how to redevelopl the site and vacant distribution center. Progressive Rail will allowa itsclients -- several large lumber mille and retailers -- to use the building as a distributionm center.
The private railroad is expandingb its rail line to connect with the Dave Fellon, president of Progressive Rail, declinec to say which companies will use the Last week, Hoyt signed DHL to a long-term leasde for a package-processing facility that will occupy the western portion of the building. It will move about 150 employees into the space in The company is expanding in the Twin Cities and will move operationxs from other locations in the a companyspokesman said. DHL was representee by CB Richard Ellis brokerzsNed Burns, based in Stamford, Conn., and Bryah Van Hoof, in the Bloomingtobn office. Combined, Progressive Rail and DHL will occupyabou 370,000 square feet.
Hoyt is still tryingf to find a tenant forthe 30,000-square-foot offic e portion of Deere's building. Hoyt had interestt from many retailers onthe site, including several well-known big-box chains, but none were "willing to step up to the Hoyt said. In February, a unique proposal for the site surfacexdfrom husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Ross and Stephanise Smith of Bloomington, who wanted to redevelol the site into a $70 million to $80 millionm mixed-use athletic training facility, complete with swimming pool, domed soccer field and multiple sheets of ice, all in a Christian-friendluy environment.
The Smiths, who couldn't be reached for comment, were tryinbg to line up funding for the project last They stopped pursuing the Deere site last according to acity 350,000-square-foot expansion planned Tom Simon, a broker in the Bloomingtomn office of CB Richard Ellis, is marketingh the property for Hoyt's Wayzata-based Hoyt plans to develop a 175,000-square-foot industrial building on the west side of the He will submit plans to the city early next year for though the zoning will stay as it is. Hoyt also planas to develop a third building on the northwest corner of the property that could beabour 175,000 square feet, depending on how the site plan is laid out, Simo n said.
In an e-maip message, Hoyt touted the project's promisse to ensure a steady baseof living-wage jobs for Bloomington residents. "As a Bloomingtoj Jefferson alumnus, I am most proud of that he said. Hoyt raised eyebrows in the real estat e market when he bought the Deere site for ahefty $14 but the gamble is paying off, said Jon an industrial broker at Bloomington-based United "Brad Hoyt is amazing. He takes things and readas the market and he does very well with Yanta said. Many of the othee developers and companies that looked at the Deere site consideref razing theexisting building.
however, believed he could fill the spacew withnew tenants, which allowed him to justifyg a slightly higher acquisition price. "He'd the ultimate entrepreneur of entrepreneurs," said Yanta. "Where the average person is afraid to go ahead and do acertaijn development, Brad Hoyt isn't afraid to compete and to make it

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