S&S Activewear, an Illinois-based distributor of uniform and promotional apparel, is adding to its list of fulfillment centers with its fifth location landing in Fort Worth. The company has leased 493,000 square feet of warehouse space at 35/820 @ Mercantile Center, which includes a total of 657,000 square feet. The spec development is a project of Hunt Southwest and is located at the intersection of I-820 and I-35.
“We know Fort Worth is an ideal location for fulfillment and distribution operations, and it is gratifying when companies like S&S Activewear prove it by making such a significant, long-term commitment to the area,” T. Preston Herold, vice president of Hunt Southwest, said in a statement. While the terms of the lease were not disclosed, Herold said it is a “long-term lease.”
The clothes wholesaler plans to move into the fulfillment center by the end of the year. The facility is scheduled to be “substantially completed” by September. The company’s other locations are in Bolingbrook, Ill.; Santa Fe Springs, Calif.; Robbinsville, N.J.; and Olathe, Ks. The Fort Worth facility will bring the company’s warehouse footprint to 2.2 million square feet. S&S Activewear cited the location’s proximity to the Fort Worth UPS distribution center and access to major highways as reasons for choosing the Hunt Southwest building.
Currently, the company employs 1,000 people, with more jobs on the way for its Texas location. “With up to 300 new jobs being created, access to Fort Worth’s abundant labor pool was yet another strong advantage to Hunt Southwest’s building,” Frank Myers, chief operating officer at S&S, said in a statement. “The Fort Worth facility marks a big step in S&S’s national growth strategy and our ability to meet the growing demands of our loyal customer base.”
Cushman and Wakefield’s Britt Casey and Mark Collins represented the tenant. Hunt Southwest was represented by the Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services team of Trey Fricke, Reid Bassinger, and Becky Thompson. The building is now about 75 percent leased, with 164,000 square feet still available.
