Wisconsin manufacturer Ariens Company has signed a lease for a 600,000-square-foot building in the Village of Somers for the site of its new distribution center. The newly-constructed building is the first phase of First Park 94, currently under development by First Industrial.
Their new Kenosha County facility is a strategically located distribution center for Ariens and consolidates operations they had throughout the Midwest into a single larger, more modern and more efficient facility.
“Finding the right distribution center is critical to our growth strategy. We often ship product based on weather events and need to respond quickly to fluctuating customer demand,” said Dan Ariens. “We appreciate the assistance of both the Village of Somers and Kenosha County for working with us, and for having the vision of making this area a key hub for distribution.”
“When Somers residents voted to create a village in 2015, the trustees immediately responded to developers who were waiting in the wings to make Somers their new home. As our first priority, we established two tax incremental districts and provided the needed utilities to close the deals,” said George Stoner, President of the Village of Somers Board of Trustees.” The result is $362 million of new long term development on the books and a $5.796 million investment in infrastructure in seventeen short months. That impressive growth number means Somers is meeting the needs of businesses who want to invest here. First Park 94 is our first industrial park development and we welcomes the park’s first new tenant, Ariens Company, a Wisconsin-based business with an exceptional world-wide reputation.”
The Village of Somers provided a $250,000 development incentive to Ariens, as well as Kenosha County supplying $250,000 from its High Impact Fund, which is administered by the Kenosha Area Business Alliance to incentivize high impact economic development projects.
“We are proud that Ariens selected Kenosha County for the site of its new facility,” said Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser. “Companies like Ariens are what have made Wisconsin a manufacturing powerhouse and we are delighted to welcome them to our community.”
First Park 94 is a 309-acre master-planned business park developed by First Industrial Realty Trust. The project, which broke ground in August 2015, is located east of the Interstate 94 interchange, at 88th Avenue and 38th Street. First Park 94 can accommodate approximately 4.6 million square feet of development including build-to-suits ranging from 150,000 square feet to 1.5 million square feet. Securing a tenant for the first building led to the August 2016 groundbreaking on a second building for Phase 2. The new building will be west of Ariens’ building and will total 602,000 square feet with expandability. The second building will be available for occupancy spring of 2017.
“We thank the Village of Somers for their cooperation in making the Village’s first industrial development a success,” said Adam Moore, regional director for First Industrial in Chicago. “We look forward to further growth within First Park 94 and the community with the construction of our second building at the project as well as serving potential build-to-suit requirements.”
Riley Construction was the general contractor for the first building in First Park 94. Partners in Design and Pinnacle Engineering also assisted with the project.
Ariens will use the warehouse as a central hub for distribution of outdoor power equipment as well as parts and accessories. The company currently has 35 open positions for lift truck drivers and order pickers/packers. More information can be found under the Careers section at www.ariensco.com.