Beard Industrial District starts big new building

Construction has started on a 476,580-square-foot building in the huge Beard Industrial District just southeast of Modesto, its first “speculative” project since the economic downturn seven years ago.

The building at Garner and Leckron roads will be well-suited to manufacturing or a distribution center, the Beard Land Improvement Co. said in a news release Monday. It will be part of the new Beard Logistics Center and have easy access for rail and trucks, the company said.

“Beard Logistics Center is the first speculative building constructed within the (Stanislaus County) submarket since 2008,” said Blake Rasmussen, senior vice president at CBRE Group Inc., the global real estate firm marketing the project. “Given the current vacancy rate of less than 1 percent, this project will provide a unique opportunity for companies seeking Class A industrial space within the region.”

Rasmussen said there are prospective users of the site, but none has been confirmed. It will have 246 spaces for employee parking, along with 76 doors for truck loading and up to eight for rail. Beard has a sister operation, the Modesto and Empire Traction Co., that connects to the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads.

The Beard district has about 2,000 acres and 30 buildings in all, including E.&J. Gallo Winery, fruit canneries owned by Del Monte Foods and Seneca Foods, a Frito-Lay snack foods plant, a Nestlé evaporated milk plant and dozens of other companies. About 260 acres are available for “build-to-suit opportunities” of 25,000 to more than 1 million square feet, the company said.

Beard did not disclose the construction cost for the latest building, but Rasmussen said it is “very competitive relative to other markets within the region.” An invitation-only groundbreaking will take place Thursday.

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Beard Industrial District starts big new building."