MIDDLETOWN — An international developer is building two large warehouses on the western end of Middletown, with plans to hold and lease the space to future manufacturing or distribution tenants.
Panattoni Development received site plan approval and conditional approval from the Middletown Planning and Zoning Commission for warehouses on Bunker Hill Road near Appoquinimink High School, with a combined floor space of 1.08 million square feet. Both sites are proposed for 856 parking spaces, with 316 for tractor trailers.
The 75-acre lot where the pair of warehouses is proposed is owned by Maple Grove Associates, which is associated with Parkway Law in Townsend.
The larger warehouse would be 795,600 square feet in size, while the second would be 286,000 square feet. In total, both sites would be projected to be large enough for 500 to 550 employees, according to representatives from Panattoni.
“We do not have an end user, this is speculative construction, and we hope someone will come and lease it,” Panattoni Development Manager Aaron Tappana told city officials. “We expect it to be a high-keep user, like bulk storage. We don’t anticipate a high through-put like Amazon, at least that’s what we’re expecting for the larger warehouse.”
The smaller warehouse may be targeted for light manufacturing or distribution, such as components shipped overseas, Tappana added.
Panattoni Development is a privately held commercial real estate development company that focuses on industrial, office and build-to-suit projects in America, Europe and Canada. Founded in 1986, it has 12 offices in the United States and has built 444 million square feet of space.
Panattoni reportedly has 23.1 million square feet of space under development now for 48 projects in various locations, with a combined value of $2.7 billion, according to a brief Powerpoint presentation on the company representatives made to Middletown officials.
These two warehouses would be close to the U.S. Route 301 bypass, although it would not have immediate ramp access. The bypass has sparked several developers’ interest in recent years, including WuXi STA Pharmaceutical, which is building a new manufacturing campus not far from Breakthu Beverage’s warehouse off Levels Road.
