Developer breaks ground on Blythewood spec building

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Collett Industrial, a Charlotte-headquartered commercial real estate firm, has broken ground on a speculative building it is developing in the Carolina Pines Industrial Park in Blythewood.

The 210,600-square-foot, Class A building is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. Plans for the building were announced in January 2021.

Collett has hired Colliers | South Carolina’s industrial brokerage team of Chuck Salley, Dave Mathews, Thomas Beard, and John Peebles to market the building and broker agreements with distribution or manufacturing users.

“The Columbia industrial market is currently experiencing unprecedented demand for Class A industrial product coupled with limited supply, particularly in the Northeast Columbia submarket,” Salley, managing director for industrial services in Colliers’ Columbia office, said in a news release. “We fully expect the market to respond well to Collett’s high-caliber industrial product.”

The spec building will feature 32-foot clear heights, 46 dock-high doors, up to 60 trailer parking spaces, an ESFR fire suppression system, LED lighting and an expansion capability of approximately 117,000 square feet.

Matthews Construction is the project site contractor, Vannoy Construction is the building contractor, MCA Architecture is the architect and Thomas & Hutton is the civil engineer.

The Carolina Pines Industrial Park houses tenants including Belk Distribution Center, Intertape Polymer Group, Husqvarna Outdoor Products, Patterson Logistics Services, and Amcor Rigid Plastics.

“Columbia has been a priority market for us given its central location, excellent transportation infrastructure and strong labor force,” said Teddy Hull, Collett Industrial principal and co-founder. “We’re looking forward to working with Colliers and the Richland County Economic Development Office as we market the new space to potential users.”

The Carolina Pines building is Collett Industrial’s first development in Columbia. The company is also currently constructing two buildings totaling 519,500 square feet of speculative industrial space at Willimon Business Park in Greenville, with leasing and marketing services provided by Colliers’ Greenville-Spartanburg industrial brokerage team.

“It’s exciting to see Collett Industrial making this kind of investment in Richland County,” Richland County Council Chair Overture Walker said. “With this development in the Carolina Pines Industrial Park, Collett is testifying to the fact that others see our community as a valuable location for manufacturers and distributors and that our workforce is capable of sustaining businesses in those fields.”

Humphreys Capital, an Oklahoma City-headquartered real estate investment firm, is partnering with Collett on the Carolina Pines project. The spec building is Humphreys’ first area investment and third in South Carolina.

“This partnership is years in the making, and we are thrilled to invest alongside Teddy and the rest of the Collett team,” said Justin Lewellen, director of investments at Humphreys Capital. “The prolonged deficit of Class A product throughout the highly active corridor at Carolina Pines presented a compelling opportunity to reenter South Carolina, and Richland County’s commitment to conveying the strategic value of its location was a critical component in making our decision.”