HEBRON, Ky. -- Bosch Automotive is expanding its Northern Kentucky footprint.
The company, which manufactures steering columns, is looking to sublease a 145,000- to 180,000-square-foot, build-to-suit warehouse from Paul Hemmer Co. near its present Erlanger campus.
Hemmer is shoring up a land deal with the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to construct the facility — one of two new land deals struck by airport officials this week for additional commercial development. CVG's board OK'd a 49-year, 11-month ground lease with the Fort Mitchell-based real estate and construction firm Monday. It's poised to earn $74,000 per year in ground rent.
Bosch, formally ZF Steering, has experienced significant growth in Florence in recent years. The company currently operates via three buildings, two already on CVG land.
"One of our big success stories has been working with Bosch," said Paul Hegedus, CVG manager, commercial and business management.
The fourth and newest building will be located on an 11-acre site along Aero Parkway. Hemmer hopes to begin construction in August. Minimal capital investment stands at $4.5 million; the site also will require nearly $1 million in mitigation costs, Hegedus said.
"For Bosch, and really an automotive supply standpoint, Northern Kentucky is very attractive logically," Mike Hirsch, vice president of operations for Bosch Automotive, said in a November interview with WCPO. "Eighty percent of our customers are within a 400-mile radius, which has distinct advantages as logistics cost nowadays is a big, big factor for us."
CVG on Monday also OK'd leasing 22 acres near GE Aviation to Dermody Properties — the same developer that inked Wayfair as a tenant in a 900,000-square-foot distribution facility that's nearly complete — for a new 260,000-square-foot speculative warehouse facility. No tenant was discussed.
Dermody, which will be making an $8 million investment, also is eyeing an August construction start-date.
CVG has been aggressively marketing its available acreage in recent years as a way to diversify revenue. In 2010, officials ID'd 11 sites and approximately 600 acres for commercial/non-aviation development.
It inked land leases with Dermody/Wayfair in June, and, earlier this year, OK'd a lease with VanTrust for a 510,000-square-foot spec building on 41 acres behind the Florence Wal-Mart Supercenter.
CVG CEO Candace McGraw said said they're also in discussions regarding a 90,000-square-foot retail development on 7 acres at Doering Drive and Ted Bushelman Boulevard. The airport is projecting $500,000 in non-aviation ground rent revenues for 2016.
