Walgreen warehouse could mean 100 workers for Rogers

Walgreen Co. will open its first Minnesota warehouse in Rogers.

Company officials last month signed a 10-year lease for 335,000 square feet in a former Department 56 Inc. warehouse.

Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen, which operates 113 Walgreens pharmacy stores in Minnesota, will use the facility as a supplement to its distribution center in Windsor, Wis.

A Walgreen spokeswoman said the center will have 75 to 100 employees, some shifted from existing Walgreen facilities. Most will be new hires.

The building is at 13201 Wilfred Lane in the Rogers Industrial Park. Lenox Group Inc. of Eden Prairie (formerly Department 56) terminated its lease and announced previously that it would move its operations to a distribution center in Hagerstown, Md.

Walgreen will take control of the space sometime next summer.

The owner of the building, Chicago-based Morgan Stanley Real Estate Advisors Inc., was represented in the Walgreens deal by brokers Mark Sims and Chris Garcia at Bloomington-based United Properties.

Frank Sherwood from the Minneapolis office of The Staubach Co., a Dallas-based real estate brokerage, assisted Walgreen with the site search.

Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. U.S. Inc. is constructing the interior space to accommodate Walgreen and will continue to serve as property manager.

Walgreen operates 6,100 stores and 13 distribution centers nationally.

Walgreen looked at several sites around the Twin Cities, including the Macy's distribution center in Minneapolis and build-to-suit options in the Shakopee area.

Walgreen officials wanted a larger facility farther south, but it picked the 8-year-old site because it was available and functional. Plus, the 24 acres offer some room for expansion, according to a source familiar with the decision who declined to be named due to confidentiality agreements.

"

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software
development, Internet programming,

real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name
registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the
complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

"

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software development, Internet programming, real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

source: bizjournals.com