Build-to-suit distribution center development took center stage when Buffalo Rock Company, the 125-year-old Pepsi and Dr Pepper bottler based in Birmingham, Alabama, set out to consolidate its Gulf Coast operations into a single scaled hub. Host Andrew Taylor of Taylor & Mathis is joined by Matthew Dent, President & CEO of Buffalo Rock Company; Jeremiah Owen, Executive Director of Strategic Infrastructure Support at Buffalo Rock Company; Edwin Moss, Executive Vice President & Partner at J.H. Berry Commercial Real Estate; and Taylor & Mathis's Hamilton Reynolds and Taylor Harren. Together they walk through the 350,000-square-foot Gulf Coast distribution center Taylor & Mathis developed for Buffalo Rock on a 50-acre site.

Buffalo Rock's industrial real estate strategy is built on a long view. Matthew Dent explains how the company rebuilt its entire infrastructure over six years, consolidating product picking from fourteen locations into a handful of scaled, automated centers while keeping local teams rooted in every market they serve. A site just northeast of Pensacola, Florida became an unexpected opportunity. Design-build contractor Vardaman was ready to redesign it around Buffalo Rock's operations.

Value engineering and future-ready design carried the project through construction. Taylor Harren and Jeremiah Owen detail how weekly drawing reviews produced roughly $2.5 million in savings, about seven dollars per square foot, while the team built in infrastructure for a future automation system, including thickened slabs, sanitary and fire protection lines, power conduit, and generator capacity, along with room to expand the building by about 150,000 square feet. The facility features 40,000 square feet of Class A office space designed around the employee experience and a 17,000-square-foot freestanding fleet maintenance facility.

Key Takeaways

• Consolidating operations into scaled, automated hubs while keeping local teams in local markets can transform how a distributor serves its customers.
• Inheriting a site with completed due diligence and an engaged design-build contractor can greatly simplify a build-to-suit RFP.
• Creative deal structures, like tiered profit sharing and a conditional purchase option, can align developer and tenant goals across a 20-year lease.
• Early, collaborative value engineering uncovered about $2.5 million in savings without compromising the facility program.
• Investing now in infrastructure for future automation and expansion protects both the operation and the employee experience for decades.

Connect:
- Matthew Dent — President & CEO, Buffalo Rock Company https://www.buffalorock.com/company/

- Jeremiah Owen — Executive Director of Strategic Infrastructure Support, Buffalo Rock Company

- Edwin Moss — Executive Vice President & Partner, J.H. Berry Commercial Real Estate, https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinmoss/

- Hamilton Reynolds — Partner at Taylor & Mathis, leads the industrial division https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamilton-reynolds-15013514/

- Taylor Harren — Vice President of Development, Taylor & Mathis, https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-harren-34359891/

Andrew Taylor, President, Taylor and Mathis
https://www.taylormathis.com/

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