Whole Foods Market has leased space in the HighPoint Elevated industrial park for a distribution center. (Courtesy Calvin Ludwig/4Blades Digital Media)
Whole Foods Market is getting a whole new regional distribution center.
The grocery chain has leased a roughly 137,000-square-foot distribution center in HighPoint Elevated, an industrial park near DIA in Aurora being developed by Hyde Development and Mortenson.
The distribution center will serve the entire Rocky Mountain region, which includes multiple states. The facility will replace an existing Whole Foods distribution center at 17900 E. 32nd Ave. in Aurora, a company spokesman said.
Paul Hyde, CEO of Hyde Development, said Whole Foods will move in November 2024.
HighPoint Elevated is being developed at the southeast corner of 64th Avenue and E-470. CBRE brokers Todd Witty, Daniel Close, Tyler Carner, Jeremy Ballenger and Jessica Ostermick are marketing the park for the Minnesota-based developers. Steve Hager of Cushman & Wakefield represented Whole Foods.
Warehouse builds are divided into two types: Custom builds are done for a specific tenant, while speculative builds break ground with no tenant committed.
Whole Foods’ structure is being built to order. To recoup this expense, long-term leases are crucial. It’s why Whole Foods’ lease is 20 years long, Hyde said.
And the cost of the building? “A lot,” Hyde said. The total price tag is “well north” of $50 million.
“It has all the different components to store all the components you would get at the store,” Hyde said of the planned structure.
Though deceptively simple-sounding, the task of creating a much larger grocery store — one that can hold enough goods for Whole Foods across multiple states — is costly and challenging. The warehouse is outfitted with freezer, cooler and other temperature-controlled spaces.
“It even has a banana-ripening room,” Hyde said.
One key benefit to Whole Foods, Hyde said, is there’s room for expansion. An additional 15,000 square feet can be developed if desired.
“Once you’ve invested that much money, you want to be able to expand,” he said.
For HighPoint Elevated, it’s another significant tenant to lease in the park. Approximately 5.5 million industrial square feet across 16 buildings are planned, with some warehouses already completed. Another notable company in the project is Dollar General, which opted to buy 75 acres in the industrial park and then hire Hyde and Mortenson to build 919,000 square feet.
The next speculative space will break ground early next year. Hyde noted project plans go beyond warehouses, and call for retail space along 64th Avenue. That road is poised to be widened from two to four lanes, and an interchange will be constructed where the road hits E-470.
“The last thing we’re gonna do that is unique – a network of trails and parks that we’re just about to start the city approval process with … miles and miles of trails that will wind around the buildings and connect the buildings and ultimately connect to the other trails in the Highpoint region,” he said.
Whole Foods Market has leased space in the HighPoint Elevated industrial park for a distribution center. (Courtesy Calvin Ludwig/4Blades Digital Media)
Whole Foods Market is getting a whole new regional distribution center.
The grocery chain has leased a roughly 137,000-square-foot distribution center in HighPoint Elevated, an industrial park near DIA in Aurora being developed by Hyde Development and Mortenson.
The distribution center will serve the entire Rocky Mountain region, which includes multiple states. The facility will replace an existing Whole Foods distribution center at 17900 E. 32nd Ave. in Aurora, a company spokesman said.
Paul Hyde, CEO of Hyde Development, said Whole Foods will move in November 2024.
HighPoint Elevated is being developed at the southeast corner of 64th Avenue and E-470. CBRE brokers Todd Witty, Daniel Close, Tyler Carner, Jeremy Ballenger and Jessica Ostermick are marketing the park for the Minnesota-based developers. Steve Hager of Cushman & Wakefield represented Whole Foods.
Warehouse builds are divided into two types: Custom builds are done for a specific tenant, while speculative builds break ground with no tenant committed.
Whole Foods’ structure is being built to order. To recoup this expense, long-term leases are crucial. It’s why Whole Foods’ lease is 20 years long, Hyde said.
And the cost of the building? “A lot,” Hyde said. The total price tag is “well north” of $50 million.
“It has all the different components to store all the components you would get at the store,” Hyde said of the planned structure.
Though deceptively simple-sounding, the task of creating a much larger grocery store — one that can hold enough goods for Whole Foods across multiple states — is costly and challenging. The warehouse is outfitted with freezer, cooler and other temperature-controlled spaces.
“It even has a banana-ripening room,” Hyde said.
One key benefit to Whole Foods, Hyde said, is there’s room for expansion. An additional 15,000 square feet can be developed if desired.
“Once you’ve invested that much money, you want to be able to expand,” he said.
For HighPoint Elevated, it’s another significant tenant to lease in the park. Approximately 5.5 million industrial square feet across 16 buildings are planned, with some warehouses already completed. Another notable company in the project is Dollar General, which opted to buy 75 acres in the industrial park and then hire Hyde and Mortenson to build 919,000 square feet.
The next speculative space will break ground early next year. Hyde noted project plans go beyond warehouses, and call for retail space along 64th Avenue. That road is poised to be widened from two to four lanes, and an interchange will be constructed where the road hits E-470.
“The last thing we’re gonna do that is unique – a network of trails and parks that we’re just about to start the city approval process with … miles and miles of trails that will wind around the buildings and connect the buildings and ultimately connect to the other trails in the Highpoint region,” he said.
