Construction begins on Ridgefield Industrial Center project

The Reflector

Ridgefield is set to see a nearly half-million square foot industrial facility east of the Interstate 5 junction as a development firm announced the purchase of land and the start of construction last week.

On Sept. 9, Specht Development announced it had acquired 50 acres of land at the corner of South Fifth Street and South Union Ridge Parkway for construction of the Ridgefield Industrial Center. Specht officially acquired the land on Aug. 26, and along with an affiliate of RREEF America LLC, will construct a roughly 469,000-square-foot building on the site that will accommodate up to four tenants.

Specht called the industrial center a “state-of-the-art” facility with 36-foot clear height, LED lighting and excess trailer parking at the double-loaded building.

Gregory Specht, president of Specht Development, said the 50 acres was the last large parcel available at the Union Ridge Industrial Park. The property sold for about $4.8 million based on Clark County property records.

“While we are very excited about this project, we continue to be greatly concerned by the lack of available land for larger industrial projects in both southwest Washington and Oregon,” Specht said in the announcement. “The demand for industrial space has only grown greater over the past 18 months as businesses have grappled with the impacts of COVID-19 and the resulting supply chain disruptions, along with the ever-increasing demand for quicker e-commerce delivery options.”

Specht will use firm Mackenzie for architectural design and Perlo Construction as general contractor, the announcement stated. Specht Development Vice President Brent Hedberg said his company has “excellent long-term relationships” with the two.

“Over the past several years we have completed over 1.3 million square-feet of speculative industrial space with this team and are pleased to be able to move with them on board once again,” Hedberg said in the announcement.