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by Candace Carlisle | CoStarGroup.com
The world's largest toolmaker, Stanley Black & Decker, has bought land in North Texas to build its first Craftsman manufacturing plant since it bought the division from retailer Sears in 2017, with Lone Star State real estate reflecting a corporate push to rejuvenate a well-known American brand.
The company acquired a nearly 40-acre tract in Fort Worth, Texas, to build the high-tech plant that will eventually make tools for mechanics using 3-D printing, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
The Craftsman Brand
Stanley Black & Decker has been on a mission to revitalize the iconic Craftsman brand and bring back its American manufacturing heritage amid uncertainty tied to the future of U.S. trade with Mexico and China. Since 2015, the toolmaker has increased its manufacturing jobs by 40%, a spokeswoman said.
In all, Stanley Black & Decker operates about 30 manufacturing plants in the United States, with more than 100 facilities worldwide. Of those plants, five of the locations feature high-tech manufacturing processes.
The new sit is in AllianceTexas, a 26,000-acre, mixed-use community where Stanley Black & Decker leased a 1.2 million-square-foot facility earlier this year for a distribution center. AllianceTexas, which is from Fort Worth-based development firm Hillwood, is centered around Alliance Airport, the first airport of its kind built specifically to ship goods throughout the country.
By locating these regional operations in the AllianceTexas business center, Stanley Black & Decker will have the ability to concurrently distribute and manufacture its tools from a centralized location in the United States, said Tony Creme, a senior vice president of Hillwood, who worked on the deal.
"This new plant will also be the latest in our network of manufacturing facilities – one that uses state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and demonstrates our commitment to becoming one of the world’s leaders in advanced manufacturing,” Jim Loree, president and chief executive officer of Stanley Black & Decker, said in a statement.
Stanley Black & Decker executives expect the Craftsman brand, which has been around since 1927, to reach $1 billion in incremental revenue by 2021. Stanley Black & Decker is a company with $14 billion in annual revenue and about 61,000 employees in more than 60 countries, making it the world's largest toolmaker. A company spokeswoman said there were no additional U.S. facilities to announce at this time.
The $90 million, 425,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will be at the northeast corner of Eagle Parkway and Beach Street in Fort Worth. The toolmaker has enough excess land to nearly double its manufacturing capability at the site at some point.
A company spokeswoman said the cost of the land and to build-out the plant's exterior will cost around $45 million, and the interior build-out will also cost around $45 million.
Construction on the plant is expected to begin this fall and is scheduled for completion in late 2020, when it will employ 500 full-time workers. Hillwood will build the plant for Stanley Black & Decker. The plant is expected to leverage technology to improve material yield by nearly 25 percent, as well as employ water and energy technologies to reduce consumption.
"Stanley Black & Decker hasn't built a manufacturing facility in decades," Creme said in an interview. "They plan to take all the best practices from their other facilities and incorporate them into this facility. This is a long-term investment for Black & Decker with the ability to build almost 800,000 square feet of space at full build-out on the site."
Meanwhile, Stanley Black & Decker's distribution center called Alliance Northport 3 was recently completed by Hillwood. Alliance Northport 3 is in Northlake, a small ranch community about 15 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport along Interstate 35W – a major north-south distribution corridor in Texas – and State Highway 114.
According to the latest CoStar data, Dallas-Fort Worth has 32.1 million square feet of industrial space under construction in the region.
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ABOUT AUTHOR
Phillip Harrison
Phillip is an commercial real estate broker specializing in tenant representation in the Downtown and Midtown Nashville markets in office and industrial leasing and investment sales. Phillip represents clients in various sectors, including tech, start-up, and not-for-profit. As a leasing advisor, Phillip’s goal is to help his clients find flexible real estate solutions for both their short and long-term needs. His training and experience in property management at CBRE, Inc. in their Asset Management Division ensures his clients interests are protected and that optimal deal terms are achieved. Phillip began his career in real estate as a real estate specialist with the United States Corps of Engineers and now he focuses on office and industrial properties. Check out more of Phillip's content on the MGM Commercial YouTube channel.