Developer makes $59 million land buy in Pasco for massive Target warehouse
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 4, 2022

A national industrial real estate developer has closed on 170 acres in Pasco County where Target Corp. plans to occupy a massive e-commerce fulfillment center.

An entity linked to Kansas City-based NorthPoint Development paid $59 million for the I-75 Logistics Center — four parcels totaling 170 acres in the northeast quadrant of Interstate 75 and State Road 52. The sale closed on Oct. 31, according to a Pasco County deed filed Thursday.

A representative of NorthPoint did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The seller was Jacksonville-based Chestnut Hill Investments. Cushman & Wakefield Inc. had been marketing the property on behalf of Chestnut Hill since 2021. JJ Conners, Chestnut Hill principal, declined comment Friday.

NorthPoint also paid $5.4 million for a 51-acre parcel directly north of the I-75 Logistics Center in September, according to Pasco property records.

The sale signals that Target Corp. is committed to the project and construction is imminent. The Tampa Bay Business Journal first reported Target was zeroing in on the site in April, according to real estate sources who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the deal. In June, Pasco commissioners approved an infrastructure incentive agreement with North Point to make way for the warehouse, which was codenamed Project Chanel.

David Engel, Pasco's economic growth director, told the Business Journal on Friday that site clearing is already underway on the property and that the developer has submitted its site plan for county approval.

The warehouse will be 1.4 million square feet — massive even in the modern era of e-commerce fulfillment centers, where buildings routinely range between 750,000 and 1 million square feet. It is rare in the Tampa Bay market for one tenant to occupy more than 1 million square feet of warehouse space in the same location.

In a June memo to commissioners, Engel wrote that construction costs for the warehouse will be more than $200 million, and it will create 2,400 new full-time jobs. Job creation is a major initiative in Pasco County, which has largely been a bedroom community for Tampa commuters.

A Target spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.