Panattoni, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based international development company, has purchased 9 acres from the Port of Ridgefield and is constructing a light-industrial building on the land.
The port, which announced the May 24 sale in a news release Friday, said the price was about $2 million for the tract at the Wisdom Ridge development site on South 11th Street in Ridgefield.
Panattoni broke ground May 28 on construction of the 117,415-square-foot industrial building, the port said, adding that the property already was permitted for construction of a light-industrial building when the site was sold.
Construction completion is expected in the first quarter of 2020.
“The port’s strategy in selling the building was to expedite private investment in the area,” Port of Ridgefield CEO Brent Grening said in the news release.
Plans call for a concrete-tilt building with up to four separate tenants or one tenant taking the entire space. Parking at the site will accommodate 152 parking stalls. The building will be available for sale or lease.
Panattoni’s website touts itself as one of the largest privately held, full-service real estate development companies in the world, with 24 offices in the U.S., Canada and Europe. It has developed more than 320 million square feet since its 1986 founding.
“We really enjoyed working with the Port of Ridgefield on this project,” Panattoni development manager Brendan Mason said in a statement. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
While there are no tenants confirmed, Mason said he is confident their marketing efforts will bear fruit.
“We were very interested in developing here because vacancy is very low in the area for this type of Class A, state-of-the-art construction,” he said.
The building will have a 30-foot-high ceiling, making it well-suited for manufacturing and other light-industrial uses, the release says.
The site is across the street from the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife, a Port of Ridgefield project that employs about 100 people.
