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Company signs 115,000-square foot lease in Reading Distribution Center

An affiliate of Endurance Real Estate Group LLC announced the signing of a 114,550-square-foot lease with Can Corporation of America Inc., a subsidiary of The Giorgi Companies Inc., at the Route 61 Distribution Center, 184 Tuckerton Road, Reading.

The lease with “Can Corp. continues our strong leasing activity within our Reading Industrial Portfolio,” a statement from Endurance said. The CBRE team of Paul Touhey, Sean Bleiler and Abraham Kromah represented Endurance in this transaction.

Endurance acquired the Reading Industrial Portfolio in February 2022. The largest building in the group is 184 Tuckerton Road, with 392,030 square feet. The building is 100% occupied, “in large part due to Reading’s strong labor pool and prime location to exceptional highway infrastructure that places six of the top 10 U.S. (metropolitan statistical areas) and 60% of the Canadian population within a one-day truck drive,” the statement said.

“This specific space was leased prior to launching a full-blown marketing effort, which speaks to the strength of the market and lack of functional product currently available to tenants,” said Albert J. Corr, senior vice president/principal of Endurance.

Formed in 2002, Endurance Real Estate Group is based in Radnor. Since its formation, the company has acquired and developed over $1.3 billion of assets totaling 20.6 million square feet and sold over 11.7 million square feet with a combined value of nearly $1 billion. Endurance also owns and operates a portfolio totaling over 5.3 million square feet consisting of 54 buildings.

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer

Schaedler Yesco finds growth in changing marketplace

Schaedler Yesco’s new Allentown distribution facility on East Highland Street. PHOTO/SUBMITTED –

For 50 years an electrical products distributor has called 256 West Walnut St. in Allentown home.

Known as Queen City Electric until it was purchased by Harrisburg-based Schaedler Yesco in 2015, the distributor is now making a big move over to the city’s East Side as the company ramps up its operations to respond to a changing and growing market.

The company is opening a new, larger facility near the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs stadium at 601 E. Highland St., a move that will also make its operations easier to access for customers.

But the big move is just part of the growth the company is experiencing right now.

“We have lots going on throughout our footprint,” said Greg Schaedler, CEO of the company.

The company, which has 22 locations throughout Pennsylvania and one in New York, is also in the process of completing a 40,000-square-foot addition to its central distribution center in Harrisburg, increasing its space to over 200,000 square feet.

“We’re excited that construction is complete, and we can start utilizing this new space,” said Dean Krout, vice president of operations. “After eight months of construction, we have over 3000 new pallet storage locations, more receiving space and eight new dock doors. We now have room to grow with the needs of our customers.”.

This comes on the heels of the company launching a new ecommerce website in April, which has helped the company adapt to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the supply chain and workforce.

“It’s about growing in our service business and storing materials for our contractors,” Schaedler said.

He explained the skills gap that is currently affecting the industry has slowed down many of the projects that electrical contractors are working on. They simply don’t have the skilled workers to meet the demand for all of the work that’s out there.

At the same time, disruptions in the supply chain have made it important for these contractors to have the materials they need close at hand.

Many contractors don’t have the space to store a large volume of inventory at their own locations, so they rely on Schaedler Yesco to house those products for them.

“Supply line issues have dictated that we bring in product while it’s available and offer stage and store services to our customers so they can maintain their project schedules,” said Farrah Mittel, president of Schaedler Yesco. “Having more space gives us flexibility to add new SKUs and new categories to our line up.”

That helps the company help its customers.

“What we recommend to our customers is that they order ahead of time to make sure they have the materials they need and then we release it to them when they need it,” said Kim Downs, director of marketing and business development.

Josh Holly, Lehigh Valley territory manager, said the new Allentown facility will bring Schaedler Yesco up to 30,000 square feet, much more space than the 20,000 square feet the company has in its current facility.

But more than that, he said the space is better used, instead of being in a 100-year-old building that is split up into different spaces, the new facility provides a single floor between two buildings. It also has higher ceilings, which will allow them to stock inventory vertically.

He said the location of the new facility is also a benefit.

“Access is just a lot better with its proximity to Airport Road and Route 22,” Holly said.

He noted that the Allentown distribution center serves customers well beyond the Lehigh Valley, so access to major highways to transport their products is important to the company’s success.

“Our goal is to offer our customers the best solutions for their needs. This expansion allows us to look at solutions a little differently than, perhaps, we could before,” said Mittel.

With the extra space and services, the company is also growing its workforce. Schaedler said the company has added 70 new employees since the beginning of the year and plans to hire more heading into 2022.

He expects the company will be moved into the new facility by mid-January.

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