HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-12-20 Ronald Van Auker ?3, Northwest
V Fulfillment
December 20, 2021
Mayor Simison and City Council Members
City of Meridian
33 E. Broadway Ave
Meridian, ID 83642
RE: Black Cat Industrial Project (H-2021-0094)
Dear Mayor Simison and City Council Members:
We are writing this letter in support of the Black Cat Industrial Project referenced above which is
requesting Annexation for 130.19 acres of land to an R-15 and I-L Zoning districts.
We are the founders of Northwest Fulfillment Company LLC and occupy approximately 72,000
square feet of industrial space in Meridian. We currently lease 175,000 total square feet of industrial
space from Nampa to East Boise, and our primary order processing and administration facility is
located at 3678 E. Lanark Street in Meridian. We currently have 50 full time employees, and several
more temporary employees during the peak-season holiday times. We support both local and
national e-commerce companies and perform business-business fulfillment solutions, and ship
approximately 30,000 packages per week from our facility in Meridian. We are actively searching for
a location to consolidate our current leased spaces into one facility in Meridian. Meridian has been
an excellent location for our business for the past 11 years. It is convenient for our employees to
access, our vendors to deliver materials to, and near the freeway with good access to ship orders on
behalf of our customers. There is a significant lack of available distribution space in the Meridian
area, and not enough entitled ground to meet our needs at this time.
Our family also developed, constructed, owned, leased and managed several industrial properties in
the Treasure Valley. We moved our business to Meridian from Caldwell in 1993, again because of
its central location and access to the rest of the valley. In our experience, Meridian is a highly
desirable place for light manufacturing and distribution companies to start and grow their
businesses. Our portfolio of industrial buildings in Meridian historically outperformed the rest of our
portfolio from a vacancy and rate standpoint, mainly due to their location.
This project is a benefit for the City of Meridian for the following reasons:
• Provides essential supply of industrial ground, which is in very high demand and typically is
less volatile in changes in economic cycles.
• Diversifies the City of Meridian's supply of available real estate,
• Provides a place of employment for the City's citizens to work. There are several residential
units near the site, and this would give the citizens an opportunity to live near their
workplace, which is not only convenient, but good for the environment. These facilities
generate good jobs and healthy economic activity for their communities in which they are
located.
• This location would be an A+ as it is adjacent to the transportation corridor, and would have
minimal impact to local streets due to its access to 1-84,
• This project will support a wide range of businesses due to its variety of space sizes,
• Last, and most importantly, it will keep companies that started their businesses in the City of
Meridian as they continue to grow. Northwest Fulfillment will have to move out of Meridian to
satisfy our facility needs as there is no available space in the city to grow into.
3678 E. Lanark St • Meridian, ID 83642 • Tel(208)287-4280 • Fax(208)287-4289 • www.nwfconline.com
?3, Northwest
V Fulfillment
I appreciate the opportunity to provide our support for this project and appreciate your time in
hearing what we have to say. Please consider your local businesses when rendering a decision on
this Annexation. To our knowledge, this is the only project in the City of Meridian that could meet
our facility needs over the next few years. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or
comments.
Sincerely,
Ronald Van Auker, Jr.
(208) 887-7994
ron(o-)vanauker.com
3678 E. Lanark St • Meridian, ID 83642 • Tel(208)287-4280 • Fax(208)287-4289 • www.nwfconline.com