LGE Design Build Completes Phoenix Distribution Center

MLCo's new facility sits in Goodyear Gateway South, a 220-acre industrial park situated just north of the Phoenix Goodyear Airport.

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

MLco facility in Goodyear, Ariz.

MLco facility in Goodyear, Ariz.

PhoenixLGE Design Build has completed a 300,000-square-foot Western U.S. warehouse and distribution center in Goodyear, Ariz., for Michael Lewis Co. Headquartered in McCook, Ill., MLCo distributes food and catering supplies, from first-class meals and alcoholic beverages to hand towels and soap, to major airlines such as American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and British Airways, as well as to in-flight caterers.

With nearly 100 employees, MLCo had outgrown its 100,000-square-foot facility near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, while also using two outside storage facilities.

“Our new distribution center is designed to meet our unique business model and foster energy efficiency as well as cost savings,” Frank Kunz Jr., MLCo’s Phoenix operations manager, said in a prepared statement. “Consolidating our previous facilities will improve inventory management.”

The new distribution center offers a cool dock for half of the building’s 58 dock doors, and about 100,000 square feet of the building is a refrigerated freezer. Rather than forcing trucks to use diesel fuel, the new building provides auxiliary electrical power to run trailer refrigeration units while docked.

The building also has solar paneling that acts as cover for the dock doors; a 30,000-square-foot, two-story office space; a high-performance concrete floor by Kalman Floor Co.; all LED lighting; a fitness center; and a test kitchen and test dining center for MLCo’s customers.

As of press time, LGE had not responded to Commercial Property Executive’s request for additional information.

MLCo chose Goodyear Gateway industrial park for the building reportedly because of the park’s pre-approved Foreign Trade Zone designation and close proximity to I-10. The site is specifically in Goodyear Gateway South, a 220-acre industrial park being developed by EJM Development Co. just north of the Phoenix Goodyear Airport.

When MLCo bought its 30-acre site there in October 2014, it was the park’s first user. Pat Feeney, Dan Calihan and Rusty Kennedy with CBRE’s Phoenix office represented EJM Development in the transaction, and MLCo was represented by Andy Cloud of Cassidy Turley, according to an announcement by CBRE at that time.

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