Dermody Properties Announces the Acquisition of LogistiCenter℠ at Pleasant Prairie
Dermody Properties, a national private equity real estate investment, development and management company focused exclusively on the logistics real estate sector, is pleased to announce the acquisition of LogistiCenter℠ at Pleasant Prairie.
Dermody Properties, a national private equity real estate investment, development and management company focused exclusively on the logistics real estate sector, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the former We Energies power plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, along with the site’s planned redevelopment as LogistiCenter℠ at Pleasant Prairie. The planned 232-acre campus will accommodate build-to-suit opportunities in three state-of-the-art logistics buildings. Mass grading is underway with building pads ready for vertical construction by the fourth quarter of 2023.
“LogistiCenter℠ at Pleasant Prairie is set apart from other development opportunities in the Midwest, adding a great deal of value for industrial uses beyond traditional warehousing,” said Neal Driscoll, Midwest Region Partner at Dermody Properties.
LogistiCenter℠ at Pleasant Prairie is Wisconsin’s only dual rail-served build-to-suit site at the intersection of the Union Pacific Railroad, which connects the United States from the Midwest to the Gulf, and to the West Coast, along with the newly formed Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern Railroad, which connects Mexico to Canada.
Additionally, given its historic operation supporting southeast Wisconsin’s power grid as a backup power plant, LogistiCenter℠ at Pleasant Prairie has access to abundant power. The site also benefits from high-quality and large quantities of freshwater service from Lake Michigan through the Village of Pleasant Prairie.
“LogistiCenter℠ at Pleasant Prairie offers incomparable access to the Midwest market, with rail accessibility to North America,” said Driscoll. “At Dermody Properties, we focus a great deal of our development and redevelopment pursuits on asset-rich sites that provide rare benefits to our customers. Sometimes those assets include irreplaceable locations that provide geographic advantages in the supply chain. Other times those sites have attributes that are set apart from the competition, like power, railway and water access.”
According to Driscoll, one of the most exciting opportunities with asset-rich sites like this one is the potential to create high-quality jobs in the community.
“The Village of Pleasant Prairie has been an excellent partner, and we look forward to working with the Village to welcome new businesses to the community,” he said. “The announcement of Microsoft’s data center in Southeast Wisconsin is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire region is on the verge of major manufacturing and technology growth because of the infrastructure investments in Wisconsin. We look forward to the opportunity to play a role in that growth.”
The park is conceptually approved to accommodate three buildings totaling 2.4 million square feet with the flexibility to be modified or consolidated as needed to meet customer requirements.
“Dermody Properties appreciates the opportunity to redevelop the former We Energies power plant,” said Tim Walsh, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Dermody Properties. “We recognize the historical significance the property has and are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the economic growth and sustainability of the Pleasant Prairie community.”
Dermody Properties currently has multiple properties available in its Midwest Region totaling 3.6 million square feet, including The Logistics Campus, a planned 10-building site in Glenview, Illinois. Building 5 of The Logistics Campus has an anticipated delivery of Q3 2023. For more information, please visit the region page on the Dermody Properties website.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.