One hundred acres of mine-scarred land that sat idle for decades now features Samsung’s new 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse in Hazleton, Pa., thanks to the great partnership between Blue Rock Construction and Hillwood Properties.
Work got underway in March 2021 at Hazleton Logistics Park for Hillwood, a high-profile developer founded in 1988 by Ross Perot Jr., son of legendary businessman and former presidential candidate Ross Perot.
Five months later, Samsung signed on as the tenant, turning the shell building into a build-to-suit project. Samsung officially began operations in September.
“Hillwood appreciates the Blue Rock team’s steadfast perseverance to get this project over the goal line and deliver to our valued client, Samsung, a state-of-the-art, 1.2 million SF Class A industrial building,” said Christopher Fencel, Hillwood Vice President of Development.
“Despite the many obstacles Blue Rock faced from supply chain to weather to material shortages, Blue Rock’s project management team, led by Ray Wright, and its subcontractors implemented creative solutions and worked extremely close with the Samsung team and the City of Hazleton to minimize overall cost and schedule impacts.”
The new facility for Samsung features:
- 11,000 SF main office
- 3,000 SF shipping / receiving offices
- 2 guardhouses and perimeter fencing to secure the site
- 140 dock positions
- Automated Battery Retrieval/Replacement System with charging stations
“Jim Hahn of Samsung, who has been my main point of contact throughout the fit-out project, called and was very complimentary of Blue Rock and the fact that we delivered as promised, and that the project went smoothly despite the challenges,” said Blue Rock Senior Project Manager Ray Wright.
Along with a long delay with roofing materials, facing more rock on the site than originally anticipated was one early challenge Blue Rock tackled. Approximately 2,000 tons of rock were blasted and crushed per day back in December 2021.
Some of the crushed stone was used for paving subgrade and others for backfill material around the storm piping.
Hazleton Logistics Park marks the second project for Hillwood. Blue Rock first partnered with the Dallas-based company to build a new 1.5 million-square-foot fulfillment center for Urban Outfitters, Inc., in Kansas City, KS.
About Hillwood
Hillwood is a leader in acquiring and developing high-quality industrial properties with 249.6M S.F. across the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Hillwood pursues well-located, functional land in the path of progress and has one of the largest land banks with a capacity of over 138.8M S.F. for future development. Hillwood collaboratively builds successful partnerships with public and private landowners, as well as other developers, to execute and invest in a broad spectrum of industrial projects. As a privately held company, Hillwood possesses the depth of capital, market expertise, industry relationships, and a forward-thinking vision to buy and build industrial properties that meet evolving markets’ logistics, distribution, and manufacturing demands.
