CONGRADULATION TO LD PRODUCTS ON NEW FACILITY

[Anonymous]

 CONGRADULATION TO LD PRODUCTS ON NEW FACILITY

LD Products To Break Ground On Douglas Park Industrial Building,Online Ink Cartridge Retailer To Build Energy-Efficient Warehouse

In an industry climate where new construction is nearly non-existent, Douglas Park – a mixed-use development on land formerly owned by Boeing near the Long Beach Airport – has become the lone bright spot in the area.

The latest deal to come through is an 110,000-square-foot build-to-suit, being developed for new owner/user LD Products, an online retailer of ink cartridge and printer supplies.  The concrete tilt-up is expected to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum, the first such energy-efficient warehouse of its kind in California, according to Chuckie Lyons, owner of Paramount-based Lyons and Lyons Properties.

The project is the second such development at the industrial site after Rubbercraft, a high-tech engineering firm, broke ground last year on a similar-size 128,000-square-foot building, which is near completion.

Since being founded as a small operation by Aaron Leon nearly 12 years ago, LD Products has been teaming with business as a leading e-commerce provider of discount ink and toner cartridges for such printers as Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark.

The company operates a handful of different webstores such as 4inkjets, http://www.ldproducts.com and http://www.inkcartridges.com. After buying out a competitor in Simi Valley, Leon said his workforce has grown from 27 to now 115 employees, filling positions such as shipping and receiving, marketing, distribution, programming, IT, graphic design and government sales.

Moving to Long Beach in 2006, the company has operated out of a 25,000-square-foot industrial/office building at 2500 Grand Ave. at the Long Beach Business Center, in addition to another 15,000-square-foot building next door. However, the business is now “busting at the seams,” moving roughly 120,000 orders a month and has been looking for more space.

Lyons, the prior landlord of Leon nearly nine years ago, was able to facilitate the deal after nearly two years of negotiations, acquiring the capital to purchase the property from RREEF/Newcastle Partners for roughly $4 million. The city approved the project entitlement in October 2010, and it’s expected to break ground this month and be completed by December of this year, he said.

Leon said what sold him on the project was its location and anticipated high level of quality. “We were looking to stay close and there was nothing else that really suited our needs,” he said. “We were looking for a really nice high-end building like this to have our warehouse and corporate building.”

With the help of LEED consultant, Marina del Rey-based GAIA Development, the operator hopes the building will become Platinum LEED, with energy-efficient features expected to outperform any warehouse building in California, carrying top-of-the-line solar panels, air conditioning sensors and electricity-saving lighting technology. Lyons said the recognition would also come from existing amenities and the reuse of the former contaminated site, once owned by Boeing.

With construction still down, Lyons said the contractors left are high quality. The LD Products project is being developed by Oltmans Construction Co. and managed by DeRevere & Associates. “I think the quality of construction right now is probably the highest it’s ever been in the last 20 years,” he said. “The level of craftsmen that are left in the industry are top notch and they get things done quickly.”

 

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June 14, 2011 at 9:00 AM