A new 243,000-sq ft. facility may help Salina's warehousing needs

A new warehouse facility that developers hope to have ready by the end of the year may give the increasing number of manufacturing industries the space they need to store products coming in and going out of Salina.

With 13 acres of undeveloped property near the Salina Regional Airport on the site of the former El Dorado bus manufacturing facility, Superior Contracting and Manufacturing Services hopes to bring this 243,000 square foot warehouse and distribution facility.

"We're fortunate that most of the available square footage (of warehouse space) in the community is leased up or has been sold recently," said Mitch Robinson, executive director of the Salina Community Economic Development Organization (SCEDO). "(That said), we're at a point that we need to have some addition footage put in place for our existing companies to have space for either raw materials or finished goods."

Robinson told the Salina City Commission Monday that Superior and SCEDO has been working with both C5 Advisors and Petra Investment Partners on this project with Petra taking the lead on designing plans for a possible structure, estimated to cost around $21 million.

An Amazon-like warehouse, built to suit tenants' needs

Tylan Dyer of Petra said warehouses like this are a normal thing in major cities across the country.

"You've seen a thousand of these, if you drive up and down (Interstate) 35, in (places like) Dallas and Kansas City," Dyer said.

He said the design of the warehouse wouldn't be too fancy, but rather functional. Additionally, he said it would planned for use in logistics and interstate commerce.

"The overall design of this building is based on Amazon," Dyer said. "If you build a building this size and you don't have Amazon in mind, you're not using the right approach, in our opinion."

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Dyer was quick to mention that, while the design of the building would be based on Amazon warehouses, this project is not looking to try and lure Amazon as a tenant, but rather to be used for local needs.

"We are talking to quite a few tenants here and been very pleased with the number of needs that already exist in town, so we're not too concerned about filling it up," Dyer said.

While designs aren't finalized, the building is looking to be at least 32 feet high in addition to the 243,000 square feet layout and would be built to fit the needs of the tenants.

A logical site for a new warehouse

Dyer said the site of the potential project, near the south end of the Salina Airport Industrial Center, is ideal for companies that distribute products throughout the United States.

"It's easy access to (Interstate) 135 ... easy access to the airport and it's really close to everybody else in that airport authority (industrial) area," Dyer said.

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Additionally, the lot is zoned, already has drainage built in and already has infrastructure in place for the possible work to begin soon. Dyer said for this reason and others, it's not out of the realm of possibility to have the facility ready before the end of 2023.

"The design is simple and essentially finished," Dyer said. "This is a nine to 10-month build."

This timing is important too, as Dyer said the potential tenants that have been in discussion to use the facility need this space sooner rather than later.

"We have a couple of tenants that need to have possession by first quarter of (2024)," Dyer said.

What's next for this warehouse project?

Dyer, Robinson and others involved with this project will return to the commission on Feb. 27, when the commissioners will decide if it would issue an industrial revenue bond to Superior for the project.

These types of bonds would allow the company to receive tax abatement for the property taxes and sales tax for materials used in construction of the building. Superior is expected to ask for a 10-year, 100% abatement.

During the meeting Monday, the commission voted to instruct city staff to move forward with preparations for the bonding, including scheduling a public hearing during the Feb. 27 meeting.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina needs more warehouse space and a proposed facility may help