FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE07/17/04
CONAIR TO LOCATE DISTRIBUTION CENTER AT HILLWOOD’S DESOTO TRADE CENTER DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHAVEN, MISS. SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – Hillwood, one of the country’s top real estate development and investment firms, and Conair, a world leader in the manufacturing and distribution of personal care and consumer products, have reached an agreement for Hillwood to develop a 389,316-square-foot facility on approximately 38 acres in its DeSoto Trade Center development in Southaven, Miss. Upon completion, Hillwood will sell the building and the land to Conair.Conair’s new site is located just south of the 846,066-square-foot DeSoto Trade Center 1 building and the future Venture Drive and just to the east of U.S. Highway 51.Conair, which eventually will employ between 30 and 50 workers at the new location, already has distribution centers on the East Coast and the West Coast. The company will begin operations in the new building in January 2005. Conair selected DeSoto Trade Center primarily because its location places their facility within close proximity to a significant portion of the company’s customer base, which will enable Conair to remain in the forefront in servicing its customers and, ultimately, the consumer. The nearby Memphis intermodal yard and the pending Foreign Trade Zone at DeSoto Trade Center also will benefit the new Conair distribution center.”The pending Foreign Trade Zone status of DeSoto Trade Center was a factor in Conair’s decision,” said Preston Herold, marketing director for Hillwood Investment Properties. “It’s exciting that the community’s effort behind the Foreign Trade Zone application has already helped produce such a positive result.”In addition to its pending Foreign Trade Zone status, DeSoto Trade Center provides outstanding access to Interstates 55 and 40; is within 10 miles of the FedEx hub and the UPS center at Memphis International Airport; and is close to the Memphis rail yard. As the largest suburban area of Memphis, DeSoto County also offers a large labor base. Hillwood purchased 93 acres for the first phase of DeSoto Trade Center, along with an option for an additional 125 acres, in November 2001.”Hillwood is honored that an industry leader like Conair has chosen to work with Hillwood at DeSoto Trade Center on its next large-scale distribution center,” said Herold. “The strengths of DeSoto Trade Center as a distribution site are best exemplified by the types of companies Hillwood has been able to attract there in the short time it’s been under development. The city of Southaven, DeSoto County and the state of Mississippi have helped create a tremendous atmosphere to attract the world’s top businesses.”Conair, which is ranked among Forbes list of Top Private Firms, is the second company that Hillwood has attracted to DeSoto Trade Center from either the Fortune 500, Global 500 or Forbes list of Top Private Firms. Emerson Electric, which occupies 365,000 square feet in the DeSoto Trade Center 1 building, is 144th on the Fortune 500 list.Hillwood was represented by Dan Wilkninson of Colliers, Wilkinson & Snowden in Memphis, Tenn. and Richard Burnette of The Burnette Company in Hernando, Miss. Conair was represented by Jim Belcher of Hart Corporation in Southampton, Pa. and Andy Cates of Colliers, Wilkinson & Snowden in Memphis, Tenn.Conair Corporation (www.conair.com), founded in 1959 as a small hair appliance and hair care product company, has evolved into a billion-dollar-plus corporation that is respected around the world as one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of personal care and grooming products. Conair products currently sell in 80 countries on 5-out-of-7 continents. Over the past four decades, Conair has expanded into categories that include kitchen appliances and consumer electronics under the Conair and Cuisinart brand names. Hillwood, (www.hillwood.com) a Perot company, is ranked as one of the top commercial real estate developers in the country and the top residential developer in Dallas-Fort Worth. The company is best known for its development of the 15,000-acre AllianceTexas mixed-use project located 15 miles northwest of DFW International Airport and the $420-million American Airlines Center and Victory district in Dallas. In addition to DeSoto Trade Center, Hillwood’s newest projects are Tradepoint Business Park in Coppell, Texas, AllianceCalifornia in San Bernardino and Crossroads Trade Center in DeSoto, Texas.Contact: David Pelletier, Hillwood(817/224-6044)[email protected]News Article | 7/17/2004