New Steel Center at Airport Site

Vandalia, OH: Dallas-based SB SPECIALTY METALS LLC is now the first tenant at Air Commerce Center, the former UPS sort facility being developed near the Dayton International Airport. The 164,000 square foot regional hub steel service center was recently completed by Kiesland Development Services.

SB Specialty Metals serves a variety of manufacturing customers in a wide range of industries including automotive, aerospace, energy and heavy equipment. The new centralized facility will supply all of the company’s service centers which in turn, ship steel to customers. The former air freight hub was an attractive logistics opportunity for SB, given its central location near I-75 and I-70, flexible building design and low cost to occupy.

Project developer, Air Commerce, LLC – a subsidiary of INDUSTRIAL REALTY GROUP (IRG) acquired the 950,000 sq. ft. air freight hub facility last year, which had been vacant since 2005. Los Angeles-based IRG has specialized in redeveloping large industrial facilities on a national basis. With a portfolio of 35MM square feet in Ohio alone IRG is a market leader in this unique segment of the real estate industry. Other local industrial IRG developments include the former GM Moraine Assembly Plant, Ford Batavia Transmission Plant, former Delco Facilities in Dayton and the former Dayton Tire and Rubber Company, also in Dayton.

Kiesland was hired in September 2012 to provide design/build services for the project on a fast-track basis. The new facility includes expanded loading dock facilities, heavy cranes, power distribution as well as 9,000 square feet of office. Kiesland worked closely with Cleveland, Ohio based Construction Resources One, Ohio Realty Advisors and Cincinnati based KBA Architects to complete the project.