Logistics Park KC Lands Hostess in Tight Industrial Climate

Logistics Park Kansas City will be the home to Hostess Brands’ main distribution center as industrial vacancy rates in the area are tightening and strong leasing activity continues.

Hostess is moving its distribution operations from Illinois to the Edgerton industrial park, which is owned by NorthPoint Development, putting it closer to its Kansas City corporate headquarters and bakery in Emporia. The new facility, at 765,000 square feet, is scheduled to open some time during next year’s first quarter.

The shift comes at a time when the Kansas City industrial real estate market is on a strong run. In the first three months this year vacancy rates were at 6.6 percent, down from 7.4 percent over the same year-ago period, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report. Though the 1.1 million square feet absorbed during the first quarter was below the two million square feet that leased up in 2018’s first three months, activity is expected to increase for the balance of the year.

A lot of that work will be due to what’s happening at Logistics Park KC. Kubota Tractor is expected to open two facilities totaling two million square feet there on which work is nearing completion. NorthPoint is also continuing construction at Northland Park, a 300-acre industrial site at Highway 210 and North Kimball Drive, in Kansas City, where it has started a 575,000-square-foot building, its fifth there, according to Cushman.