DEVELOPER EYES VANDALIA WAREHOUSE

A developer is preparing to buy 20 acres in Vandalia with the goal of building up to a 150,000-squarefoot industrial building.

Lebanon-based Schueler Group is banking on finding a business that wants to grow or move to the land near the Dayton International Airport and Interstate 75 and U.S. 40.

With industrial real estate tightening and a limited supply of new space appropriate for factories or warehousing, Schueler Group is hoping that a business will find it attractive to work with the developer on building a new location in the high traffic area.

“There’s a lot of industrial activity going on in the north market,” Chief Operating Officer Eric Joo said. “There’s pent-up demand for new, modern industrial space.”

Joo said the site on Industrial Park Drive, in the Brown School Road area, would have highway visibility. The real estate firm would market the site and develop the warehouse.

The Dayton region’s industrial vacancy rate is down to 6.2 percent as of the second quarter of this year, according to Colliers International, but there’s even less space available once you get north of Dayton. The real estate firm reports the north market is 3.7 percent and farther north the Upper Valley vacancy rate dips down to less than 1 percent.

Schueler Group, which works in both Cincinnati and Dayton, has previously said it is aiming to grow its presence in the Dayton region through the aid of Joo, who had previously worked with Dayton-based Miller-Valentine Group and is familiar with the market.