Essendant Leases 405,299 Square Feet of Industrial Space at Wonderful Industrial Park - Shafter, CA

SHAFTER, CALIF., Nov. 29, 2017 - Wonderful Real Estate announced it has signed a build-to-suit lease with Essendant Co. for a 405,299 square-foot industrial building at Wonderful Industrial Park (WIP) in Shafter, California. Essendant, a leading wholesale distributor of business products, will use this facility for local and regional fulfilment, e-commerce and distribution with move in scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.

"Essendant completed a thorough evaluation of the Central Valley and selected WIP for its favorable business and community environment, close proximity of qualified labor and a reliable developer/owner with successful track record on deliveries," said Joe Vargas, President of Wonderful Real Estate. "We look forward to our long term partnership with Essendant as we continue to demonstrate this area is a key industrial real estate region in the United States."

Mac Hewett of JLL continued by saying "Essendant looks forward to taking advantage of the abundant labor pool in the surrounding communities and Wonderful's deep regional work force relationships. As one of the largest employers of permanent and seasonal farming employees in the Central Valley, the Wonderful Company is uniquely aware of the sensitivity and importance of a good, qualified, and a consistent workforce. The labor advantages available to employers in the Central Valley, such as The Wonderful Company and Essendant, is not only limited to significant labor cost savings but labor reliability, particularly within 30 miles of Wonderful Industrial Park."

JLL's Mike McCrary, Peter McWilliams and Hewett are leading the leasing efforts at Wonderful Industrial Park, a 1,625 acre rail served master planned entitled industrial development able to accommodate requirements ranging from 100,000 square feet to 2 million square feet. In September, Wonderful Real Estate started construction on a speculative 1 million square foot, 40 foot clear state-of-the-art industrial building at WIP with an anticipated occupancy of March 2018. Wonderful Industrial Park is home to several premier corporate users including Target, Ross Stores, American Tire Distributors, FedEx, Formica, State Farm, DMSI, MRC Global and Baker Hughes.

Wonderful Industrial Park's central location gives companies access to a robust transportation infrastructure, port proximity, allowing access to 14 percent of the U.S. population within 300 miles. It has a FedEx Ground hub onsite and is nearby a UPS ground hub in Bakersfield, Calif with Meadows Field Airport located only seven miles away. Wonderful Industrial Park also features an onsite rail yard, fiber network, and proximity to public transportation and retail amenities.

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About JLL
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. A Fortune 500 company, JLL helps real estate owners, occupiers and investors achieve their business ambitions. In 2016, JLL had revenue of $6.8 billion and fee revenue of $5.8 billion and, on behalf of clients, managed 4.4 billion square feet, or 409 million square meters, and completed sales acquisitions and finance transactions of approximately $145 billion. At the end of the third quarter of 2017, JLL had nearly 300 corporate offices, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of over 80,000. As of September 30, 2017, LaSalle Investment Management had $59.0 billion of real estate under asset management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit ir.jll.com.