Prospects continue to look at Rooker building

“We showed it last Friday,” said Dan Pattillo, president of Real Estate for Rooker Properties, “so it’s still out there.”

The economy has slowed the stream of prospects down, of course.

“Yes, it’s slow,” Pattillo acknowledged. “There’s a lot of product up in Jackson County, a lot of big properties.”

Patillo said he averages about one call a week expressing interest in the site, but it’s hard to tell when someone makes an inquiry just how interested they are in a purchase or lease.

“You never know,” said Pattillo. “You may think they’re the most serious people in the world and they’ll disappear. And you think someone is just kicking tires and suddenly they’re all over it. You have to assume everybody’s serious.”

One thing that makes the Commerce building attractive to companies seeking a distribution center is that it can be expanded to about 1.2 million square feet. In addition, said Pattillo, there has been some interest in other sites in the 400-acre Commerce 85 Business Park.

“We have a rail site that is out there and some people interested in the freeway frontage,” he noted.

“We do from time to time get some interest in the building,” said Shane Short, chamber president. “It just depends on the size they need. Generally speaking, there’s someone looking at the building.”

Short noted that the building was completed at an unlucky time - just as the economy tanked.

“It couldn’t have happened at a worse time for that development. If things were normal, pre-recession, this would not be an issue. As soon as it was completed, the economy declined.”

Short said interest in the Commerce site (and other industrial sites in Jackson County) is picking up this year.

“In 2010 there has been more interest,” he said. “I think now we have a much better opportunity for the building to be occupied than in the past three years.”