BusinessTN

California-based Panattoni Development Co. has a solid reputation for being ahead of the curve on the development of spec distribution space in Middle Tennessee. Currently, Panattoni is banking on Clarksville—Tennessee's fastest growing and fifth largest city—as the next hot spot.

Clarksville has long lacked distribution space, a fact evidenced in 2006 when Federated Department Stores wanted to locate its Internet retail operations to Clarksville but instead went to distribution-rich Portland. Panattoni regional director Whitfield Hamilton, who oversees the Nashville office, as well as Panattoni offices in Atlanta and four Florida cities, confirms that there have been "major users" who would have preferred to locate in Clarksville over the years but who went instead to destinations better prepared to meet their time lines. "Having an active developer who can price deals where there are roads cut in, lots ready to go, buildings getting built—that helps attract deals because it takes so much risk out of it for a company locating a big facility," he explains. In response, in concert with local leaders, Panattoni recently negotiated a deal to build several million square feet of speculative Class A distribution space (a $100 million investment) in the community's business park on I-24, just 40 miles from downtown Nashville.

People often erroneously perceive Clarksville to be a greater distance from Music City than other ring communities. Hayne Hamilton, Whitfield's brother and Panattoni's senior development manager running the Nashville office, says the I-24 site is actually no farther from downtown Nashville than the company's new Rutherford County project, Elam Farms. "There's a whole lot more development between Murfreesboro and Nashville, but actually, the Clarksville site is equidistant from downtown Nashville," Hayne Hamilton says. "It has a great workforce due to its high retention rate of military folks, and it has great interstate access—exactly what all these distribution folks are looking for."

Based on its successful track record in Rutherford, Wilson and even East Davidson County, it's hard to bet against Panattoni's latest plunge.