Earthbound Development LLC plans to develop the 40,688-square-foot building on a 5.9-acre vacant parcel at 4205 N. Port Washington Road, just east of I-43. That's just north of the Home Depot store.
Earthbound plans to begin site preparation work this spring, with building construction to start as soon as the development firm secures a lead tenant, said Brian Monroe, who operates the company.
The Glendale Common Council this week approved certified survey maps to create three separate parcels on land owned by Earthbound. The other two parcels are 16.9 acres west of I-43, at 4400 N. Green Bay Ave., and a billboard at 4444 N. Green Bay Ave.
The site is a former rail yard that has been vacant for several years.
A $435,000 grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is helping finance the site's redevelopment, including a new city street that connects with North Port Washington Road.
Demand for new industrial space is expected to remain strong throughout southeastern Wisconsin in 2020, said Chad Vande Zande, an industrial real estate broker and principal at Cushman & Wakefield | Boerke.
Vande Zande made his comments during a Thursday presentation at the annual real estate forecast sponsored by Institute of Real Estate Management's Milwaukee chapter.
He said light industrial developers are increasingly turning to parcels in the northern portion of the Milwaukee metro area because of the shrinking number of lots available near I-94 in the southern metro area. Earthbound's other projects include the 2007 conversion of Glendale's former Becker Foods buildings into the Beerline Crossing office and light industrial complex. That includes space, at 4160 N. Port Washington Road, that is leased to the state Department of Corrections.