Wayzata-based Inland Development Co. hopes to break ground this spring on a 333,750-square-foot office warehouse project in Dayton, an emerging Twin Cities hot spot for industrial development.
The city launched an environmental review this week for the project, which will rise on a 25-acre site just off County Road 81 near Troy Lane, according to an Environmental Assessment Worksheet.
Tina Goodroad, Dayton’s city administrator and development director, said the speculative development — known as Dayton 94 — will go before the city’s Planning Commission next Thursday and the City Council on June 14.
The existing agricultural site will need to be rezoned for industrial use, according to the EAW.
Dayton 94 is among the latest additions to the burgeoning northwest industrial submarket. Other hot spots in the submarket include Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, Otsego and Rogers.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Q1 2022 industrial report reveals that the northwest submarket has 80.9 million square feet of industrial inventory and 4% vacancy. More than 1.1 million square feet of new product is under construction there, the report notes.
Goodroad said nearly 2 million square feet of new industrial product is expected to be approved and under construction this year, including the Dayton 94 project.
Besides the building itself, the Dayton 94 project includes driveway and paved parking improvements, storm water features, and sewer and water installations. Also planned is an extension of Troy Lane immediately north of the site.
A bigger infrastructure improvement — the new Dayton Parkway Interchange at Interstate 94 — has taken industrial development to a new level in Dayton, according to city officials. The new interchange opened last November.
“These kinds of massive transportation improvements are years in the making. But once I think everybody saw that it was a real project and being constructed, the floodgates have kind of opened up,” Goodroad said.
Already under construction is a 464,000-square-foot Graco manufacturing building near West French Lake Road and Brockton Lane North. Graco will open the new facility in August, Goodroad said.
On the southern end of that site, Graco is planning a separate 500,000-square-foot distribution facility. Those plans will go before the Planning Commission in May, Goodroad said, adding that there’s room for another building in the center of the campus.
Another notable addition to the city is ALRO Steel’s 195,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse facility off Brockton Lane near ICA Corp.
But the biggest project is The Cubes, a 1 million-square-foot industrial development on part of a 65-acre site at 11500 Lawndale Lane, former home of the French Lake Golf Course. The new interchange will link the site directly to I-94 and Highway 610.
The Dayton 94 project site is immediately adjacent to The Cubes.
“That’s two very significant developments coming in as a result of the interchange,” said Tom Shaver, a partner with Inland Development.
Goodroad said The Cubes project has cleared the city approval process.
“The building permit has been reviewed and the developer will be building some portion of Dayton Parkway in order to access the site,” Goodroad said. “And so we are working with them on finalizing those costs and final details of the developer’s agreement, but they’ve started the tree clearing.”
