Pet Valu walks away from lease

Store was expected to be a major tenant in building near airport.

Pet Valu has stepped away from a significant lease at a large industrial building near the Dayton International Airport, a regional construction and leasing report says.

Last October, Colliers International said Pet Valu was expected to be a major tenant in a third logistics building — a 422,714-square-foot facility — being raised near the airport. At the time, it was thought that building was 80 percent leased to Pet Valu.

“Building 3 totaling 433,715 square feet was delivered 80 percent pre-leased to Pet Valu,” Colliers said in a more recent report last week. “However, Pet Valu opted not to take occupancy and the space is currently available for sublease.”

Neither Pet Valu nor developer NorthPoint have responded to questions in recent weeks about the pet goods retailer’s plans in Dayton. Colliers representatives have referred questions to Pet Valu.

Another message seeking comment was left with the pet retailer Tuesday.

However, construction near the airport continues to signal big plans. Another pet goods company, Chewy Inc., has signed a lease for a nearly 700,000-squarefoot distribution building in the area, also under NorthPoint’s development.

Chewy is expected to have at least 600 employees locally — and perhaps more over time.

The Dayton industrial market recorded 488,551 square feet of positive net absorption during the final quarter of 2018, which resulted in an annual net gain of 791,181 square feet, the Colliers report said.

In all, more than 1.2 million square feet of new construction have been completed over the past two quarters, including two bulk warehouse buildings in what is being called the Park 70/75 development near the airport, Colliers said.

There’s room for even more at Park 70/75, Colliers said. The development can accommodate five more buildings with up to 3,370,000 square feet of industrial space, while a large amount of developable land is nearby, its report says.