Lakeshore Learning Breaks Ground on 1.2 MSF Project

A Lakeshore Learning store in Milwaukee that opened in June 2023. Image courtesy of Lakeshore Learning

Lakeshore Learning, a Carson, Calif.,-based educational materials developer and retailer, has broken ground on a 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center in Garland, Utah, as part of a plan to invest about $62 million in the state over the next 10 years.

The Utah facility, which will feature state-of-the-art automation and robotics, is expected to be fully operational by January 2025. It would be the third distribution center for the company, which announced in March it was constructing a 360,000-square-foot facility in Midway, Ky. The company already has a 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Midway. The new $27.3 million Midway center is expected to add 40 full-time jobs.

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The distribution center in Utah is expected to add 550 new jobs in Box Elder County and nearly $19 million in state tax revenue, according to the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. In August, Lakeshore Learning was awarded a 30 percent tax credit as part of the state’s Rural Economic Development Tax Increment Financing program. The company will also receive an Industrial Assistance Account non-matching grant of as much as $1 million for infrastructure and talent development.

Scott Cuthbertson, president & CEO of the non-profit Economic Development Corp. of Utah, said in a prepared statement Lakeshore Learning is an excellent example of the kind of company they want to partner with in Utah. He said the company will be stimulating the economy through significant capital investment in rural Utah and will also be manufacturing educational products to be distributed nationwide.

Growing company

Founded in Northern California in 1954, Lakeshore Learning has grown from one retail store in Oakland, Calif., to a multimillion company with more than 60 retail stores in 29 states and a global e-commerce business. The privately held company recently launched a furniture line for the elementary school market, partnering with school districts and nonprofit organizations to create customized learning materials and developing a service that includes the design, delivery and installation of entire classrooms. In October 2021, Leonard Green & Partners LP acquired Lakeshore Learning.

The company also continues to expand its brick-and-mortar locations across the U.S. In June, Lakeshore Learning opened its first store in Wisconsin at 16900F West Bluemound Road in Milwaukee. The company has a Utah store at the Oakwood Village Shopping Center in Salt Lake City.

Utah industrial developments

Industrial development has been increasing in Utah in recent years. To improve the shipping and processing infrastructure in the state’s rural areas, the Utah Inland Port Authority has been establishing inland port sites. In August, the port authority approved the plan and budget for the state’s fourth port site in Box Elder County. The Golden Spike Inland Port will have project areas in the cities of Brigham City, Garland and Tremonton. Local officials hope the port will draw more manufacturing and logistics facilities to the region and encourage those already there to expand.

In April, the UIPA approved the development of Commerce Crossroad Logistics Park, an 820-acre, 41-building, 8 million-square-foot industrial campus and transportation hub in Cedar City, Utah. The park is a component of Iron Springs, an 899-acre inland shipping and freighting development in Iron County that will be Utah’s first rural inland port.