Fortune 500 Company Signs Largest Lease of Year in Memphis

Thursday, October 22nd 2015

MEMPHIS, TN – The largest industrial lease of the year – 800,000 square feet – has been signed at the Memphis Oaks III distribution park in Southeast Memphis and will create hundreds of jobs, brokers with Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors said Tuesday.

Confidentiality agreements prevented them from revealing what company will use the space at the northeast corner of Holmes Road and Getwell.

However, public records show that a building permit was pulled Oct. 14 to renovate 800,000 square feet of interior space for tenant TJX Companies, which operates TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores. The document values the renovation at 3860 E. Holmes Road at $5 million for the company that describes itself as the nation’s largest off-price retailer of apparel and home furnishings.

A spokeswoman for TJX Companies would not confirm the expansion.

“TJX has not announced plans for a new facility in this area,” Doreen Thompson, vice president for TJX’s global communications, told The Commercial Appeal in an email late Tuesday afternoon.

Brokers cited the deal as a significant win for Memphis.

“This significant 800,000-square-foot lease with a stellar Fortune 500 company is an example of the fuel that is powering the record industrial year we are having in the Memphis region,” Commercial Advisors broker Patrick Walton said in prepared remarks. He and broker Kemp Conrad, also a Memphis city councilman, represented the landlord, Panattoni Development Co.

“Our firm was honored to arrange the largest transaction to date in 2015 in this Panattoni-owned building with over 18 acres under roof,” Conrad said. “We are also excited about the community impact of the hundreds of jobs and millions in capital investment that this transaction will represent.”

Michael Reid and Tim O’Callaghan of Binswanger commercial real estate firm represented tenant.

Reid also said Tuesday he was not free to reveal the tenant.

Memphis Oaks III is now fully leased, Whitfield Hamilton of Panattoni said.

“Memphis Oaks was the last spec building built in Memphis and we have worked hard and waited a long time to find the right customer to fully utilize this great asset,” Hamilton said.

“We appreciate the confidence of our new customer in Panattoni, and are glad to take our Memphis portfolio to 100 percent leased,” he said. “This deal represents good growth and investment in process and people for the Memphis market, and demonstrates that there is sustained absorption in Shelby County.”

TJX Companies received a tax incentive two years ago to establish a smaller distribution center at 6100 E. Holmes, which is about four miles east of the Memphis Oaks III site.

The company committed to lease 207,024 square feet for the first 18 months at that location and employ 40 people. But TJX Companies also said it would lease at least 414,504 square feet “during the remainder of operations.”

The tax incentive documents, dated December 2013 and filed with the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE), did not indicate that TJX Companies may move to a different facility.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/business/real-estate/Big-industrial-lease-signed-334683131.html