A more than 1.5 million-square-foot facility that houses distribution operations for home improvement retailer Lowe's was completed in 2023, creating jobs and expanding the footprint of a Fortune 50 company as it looks to improve its supply chain network near one of the fastest-growing ports in the country.
The global home improvement retailer elected to make some upgrades of its own in 2021 when it announced it had picked the Virginia Port Logistics Park for the site of a new coastal holding facility where it would receive imported goods through the Port of Virginia, one of the largest container ports on the East Coast, to supply its regional distribution facilities. The property serves as one of Lowe's coastal holding facilities, or complexes where the company receives products mostly from import vendors and delivers them to distribution centers and stores when needed.
Lowe's experienced a bump in sales as increased remote and hybrid work following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and an aging housing stock helped boost home improvement demand, though the spike placed additional pressure on the retailer amid a rise in supply chain disruptions, increased shipping and logistics prices and reduced product availability.
"The new facility in Suffolk will complement the 69 stores Lowe’s operates across Virginia by enabling us to better manage imported product flow," Don Frieson, executive vice president of supply chain at Lowe’s, said in 2021 at the time of the announcement. "This coastal holding facility is part of an ongoing investment in Lowe’s supply chain to better serve our stores and customers.”
The impact of the roughly $75 million project and the creation of more than 100 jobs tied to the new Lowe's facility earned the development a 2024 CoStar Impact Award for commercial development of the year, as selected by an independent panel of local industry professionals.
About the Project: Construction wrapped up just before the end of the year on Lowe's more than 1.5 million-square-foot coast holding facility at 2200 Enterprise Drive. Developed by Equus Capital Partners, the property is part of the 932-acre Virginia Port Logistics Park located about 30 miles from the Port of Virginia and also home to Ace Hardware, XPO Logistics, Emser Tile and Massimo Zanetti Beverage, among others.
What the Judges Said: The project was selected "because it brings another high-profile development to the city," said John Duffy, vice president with Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.
They Made It Happen: Lang Williams, Ashton Williamson and R. Worth Remick of Colliers | Virginia negotiated the lease on behalf of ownership.
CoStar Market Manager Christian Taylor contributed to this report.