By Jack Mayne A huge new cold storage facility will be completed in Burien in a few months, following the earlier $4.5 million sale of 14 acres of city-owned land in the Northeast Redevelopment Area. Bridge Development Partners of Chicago becomes the first private developer in Burien’s Northeast Development Area, better known as the NERA. The Port of Seattle also owns a big part of the area and recently got vacation of city streets. Bridge Development on May 16 this year completed the purchase of the property at 1010 S. 146th Street in Burien, where it plans to build a 241,140-square-foot cold-storage warehouse. Bridge also paid about $800,000 for three smaller parcels not owned by the city. Western Distribution Services LLC of Renton will operate the facility. Bridge said the plant is scheduled for completion early next year. NERA history The Northeast Redevelopment Area (NERA) was created in 1997 in the city’s comprehensive plan, and a redevelopment plan was prepared in April 2010. Then in July 2013 the Council authorized the purchase of the former Sunny Terrace School property from Highline Public Schools for $2.3 million, and the Council also authorized the purchase of a neighboring four-acre parcel at 860 S. 146th Street for $750,000. In August 2015, the Council authorized City Manager Kamuron Gurol to sign a purchase agreement for $4.85 million. The city actually bought the two parcels separately for about $3 million a couple of years earlier. The City of Burien, in partnership with the Port of Seattle, was to determine how to respond to regional market and economic realities, and they said their shared goal was to create a sustainable airport-compatible redevelopment. The Port of Seattle’s Century Agenda was initiated in 2012 and aims to add 100,000 jobs through economic growth over the next 25 years, while reducing its environmental footprint. Kidder Matthews, a Seattle area commercial real estate firm, via Dan Matthews, a vice president, and broker Mike Newton, handled both ends of the deal to sell the property to Bridge Development Partners. 10-year plan “The results of this ten-year planning effort are the first steps toward making the City of Burien’s and Port of Seattle’s visions a reality. I recognized the synergies between the goals of the public and private sectors, and collaborated with all parties to assemble the land and bring suitable developer and end user options,” said Matthews. “This project will spur economic development to support families in the region for years to come,” he said. New cold storage facilities are needed to meet stringent code regulations for food safety, storage, and transportation, said Matthews. Western Distribution Services President, John Naylor, lauded the Burien site’s proximity to the airport and critical shipping routes. He sees the NERA sites as an opportunity for creating a new cold storage, processing, and warehousing campus to serve the growing needs of an increasingly regulated food services sector. Matthews and Newton negotiated the lease transaction between Bridge Development Partners and Western Distribution Services. Bridge Development Partners is a privately owned firm focused on the development and acquisition of industrial and office real estate in the Chicago, Los Angeles, South Florida, and Northern New Jersey regions.]]>