Browning/Duke building huge Plainfield distribution facility

Browning/Duke Realty, a joint venture between local developers Browning Investments Inc. and Duke Realty Corp., said Monday that it will build a 936,410-square-foot distribution facility at its AllPoints Midwest industrial park in Plainfield.

The building will be the only warehouse in the Indianapolis area that can offer more than 770,000 square feet of contiguous space, said Charlie Podell, senior vice president of Duke’s Indiana operations. It will be built on a speculative basis, meaning no tenant has been lined up.

“Interest in AllPoints Midwest in the past 18 months has been strong, with three companies, including Wal-Mart, choosing our development park for build-to-suit warehouses,” Podell said in a written statement. “Numerous companies, however, need warehouse/distribution space quickly and can’t wait nine to 12 months for a build-to-suit facility."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced in late June that it plans to open an e-commerce fulfillment center in the industrial park, creating up to 303 jobs by 2016.

Browning and Duke will construct the spec building on 63 acres near Ronald Reagan Parkway and Bradford Road, adjacent to a 1.2-million-square-foot facility occupied by Prime Distribution Services.

AllPoints Midwest includes 958 acres that can support 13.6 million square feet of space. Browning and Duke so far have developed five buildings there, including two under construction, totaling 3.8 million square feet, all of which are fully occupied.

The two also are co-developing AllPoints at Anson in Whitestown, which will have 20 buildings totaling 8.1 million square feet when finished.