A $100 million grocery distribution center scheduled for construction in Centralia in the next year will have a footprint of more than 1.3 million square feet (more than 30 acres), and be surrounded by one and a half miles of fencing.
At the Monday afternoon Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce Forum, Principal and CEO of O’Keefe Development Tom O’Keefe updated the room on the grocery distribution center construction and his “anonymous” tenant.
“We’re not letting any paint dry,” O’Keefe said of construction. “The anonymous tenant needs it really fast.”
Although the grocery distribution center is definitely coming to Centralia, and bringing 350 jobs with it, the tenant has asked O’Keefe to not disclose its name, he said.
O’Keefe said the tenant is set to be in the building and operating by July 1, 2019, but he believes it’s possible to have them in by April 1.
“We inked the deal in May and we’re building over a $100 million project 90 days later,” O’Keefe said. “Keep doing what you’re doing out here.”
He said that he expects his tenant to begin searching locally for employees in February.
“July 1 (is) the target date and I think we can get them in earlier than that,” O’Keefe said after the meeting. “They have got to be thinking three months ahead, so I think that is why I backed it up to February 1 — and that’s truly my guess … Having run a business, you have to get people on board and you have to get them trained. So I guess it would be that kind of timeline.”
When asked what job skills the center would look for, O’Keefe speculated that they will need warehouse workers, drivers and administrative staff. He noted there will be 17,000 square feet of office space and the distribution center will be a “24-hour operation.”
“I don’t know how many of their existing staff at different locations will relocate, because I’m not involved in that type of discussion, ever,” O’Keefe said. “But I was throwing it out purely as an example of they have to fill that 17,000 feet. So, presumably, they would be filling it with administrative staff and sales people, maybe.”
O’Keefe noted he is more knowledgeable about employment numbers in the warehouse.
“Really the jobs that I’m more aware of are what’s happening in the warehouse,” O’Keefe said. “We are designing the building, and the parking areas and everything to meet a certain employment level. That number they have given us is 350 people.”
O’Keefe said he has noticed more developers are interested in properties that are located between Seattle and Portland.
“I hate to be melodramatic, but this is Centralia’s time,” O’Keefe said. “There are a lot of companies looking around between Chehalis, Centralia and I guess south of Olympia...So the good news is between here, Chehalis and Winlock for that matter, there is a lot of developable property.”
O’Keefe said when there is a lot of developable property, it is cheaper than property close to a major city, such as Seattle or Portland.
“The rent can be lower and that’s appealing to a lot of companies to get their overall operational cost down,” O’Keefe said.
He said his anonymous tenant has not given him a timeline of when it will release its name.
“Companies have a lot of different reasons,” O’Keefe said. “Managing expectations is probably the main thing about existing employees, and existing customers and just making sure that the timing is right when announcements are made — that everybody is on the same page. That’s my conjecture rather than them telling me those things, but they have asked me not to (release the name).”
