Minneapolis—June 12, 2012—Murphy Warehouse Co., a family-owned, full-service supply chain logistics company, purchased a 350,000 square-foot warehouse facility in Eagan, Minn.
The new Murphy Warehouse logistics campus will serve customers in the food, medical, retail, paper and home construction industries. While Murphy Warehouse has 11 facilities in the Twin Cities, the new Eagan logistics campus will be the company’s first full-scale facility in the southern metro to serve customers in that area and throughout southern Minnesota.
“While a soft economy and high fuel prices have spelled tough times for many logistics firms, we have remained steadfast with a diverse customer base and service offerings,” said Richard Murphy, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Murphy Warehouse. “Because of this firm foundation, today we are able to make this investment and increase our presence in our home market.”
Under Murphy Warehouse ownership, the 350,000 square-foot Eagan logistics campus will undergo $3 million in improvements including several environmentally sustainable features—from native prairies to solar panels—common to the company’s other logistics campuses.
“One of the unique aspects of this purchase is that a locally-based user is purchasing a building for their own immediate use, as opposed to a real estate investor,” said Brad Bohlman, Senior Vice President of Colliers Intl. and a long-time advisor to Murphy Warehouse. “For Murphy Warehouse to purchase a property of this size that has sat vacant for a number of years, spells great things for Eagan and the real estate market in the Twin Cities.”
Murphy Warehouse planned improvements include opening a new access driveway off Michael Collins Drive to facilitate smoother truck movement in and out of the campus, as well as re-establishing rail connections to bring rail cars indoors. “By re-establishing the Progressive Railroad connection, we complete our goal of having our facilities on all railroads serving the Twin Cities,” said Murphy.
Murphy Warehouse also will transform the campus to include several other green features. Upgrades have already begun to meet LEED and ENERGY STAR Certifications, including the installation of state-of-the-art, energy efficient HVAC, sprinkler and lighting systems. Murphy Warehouse is working with partner tenKsolar to install solar panels on the roof to generate energy for the building and to feed excess energy back into the grid—something that four Murphy buildings already feature.
The Eagan campus will include native prairie grasses, trees and sensor-controlled irrigation to manage storm water and bring aesthetic value—a signature feature of all Murphy Warehouse facilities.
Future improvements being explored include raising the roof of the warehouse building an additional 10 to 12 feet in the next decade, bringing its total height to 32 feet. All current upgrades are designed to facilitate this height.
“We want to be a good neighbor in Eagan,” said Murphy. “Bringing this building back to life and making it better than before with green features is the Murphy way of doing business.”
The warehouse is located at 905 Yankee Doodle Rd., Eagan, MI 55121.
