Nash Finch leases a massive warehouse for food near BWI
Complex is just down the road from Amazon’s facilities
A Michigan-based food distributor that recently signed a stock deal with Amazon has leased a massive warehouse complex in Severn, just a few miles from the giant online retailer’s fulfillment center at BWI Thurgood Marshal Airport.
Nash Finch Co., a subsidiary of Spartan Nash Co., signed a seven-year, $25.8 million lease for the 363,872-square-foot center on Telegraph Road, according to the owner of the property.
The company plans to hire about 150 people and is currently working to open the center.
“It’s really to be able to extend our reach and be able to be a better service provider to customers in that part of the company,” said Meredith Gremel, Spartan Nash spokeswoman. She declined to comment on any specific customers that might benefit from the location of the center.
Located on 31 acres at 8024 Telegraph Road, the single-story facility was completed in 1990. It is six miles south of BWI, where Amazon operates one of two distribution and fulfillment centers in the Baltimore area.
Announcement of the lease follows a Spartan Nash filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealing it had issued stock warrants to Amazon subsidiary NV Investment Holdings LLC, enabling it to up to 5.4 million shares of company stock by 2027.
In 2016, Spartan Nash signed a deal to expand its agreement with Amazon and provide fresh food for its online shoppers. Amazon bought Whole Foods, the national grocery chain, the following year as part of its planned expansion into groceries.
Spartan Nash is one of the country’s largest food distributors, with $1.09 billion in sales in the second quarter of this year. Most of that business is in the Midwest and South, but it also is a major supplier to military commissaries, according to its website. The center is also close to Fort George G. Meade.
Spartan Nash also operates a chain of more than 155 grocery markets in the upper mid west with brands such as Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery and Dan’s Supermarket.
Provender Partners, a California commercial real estate company, purchased the building in 2018 from US Foods, a Marylandbased food distributor. US Foods closed the center in 2016 after failing to reach an agreement on concessions with unionized workers. At the time, it employed about 350 people.
Called the Mid Atlantic Food Center, the old US Food complex in Severn includes freezer, cooler and ambient temperature warehouse space, according to a statement released by Provender Partners announcing the deal.
Rosa Cruz, a spokesperson for Anne Arundel Economic Development, said her agency is working on the project but declined to offer any details.
“We look forward to hearing a public announcement in the coming months,” she said.
Gremel said information about job opportunities can be found at careers.spartannash.com