By Natalie Keith
Nashville Business Center
NASHVILLE-Office automation equipment and electronics supplier Ricoh Corp. has signed a 10-year, 200,000-sf lease at Nashville Business Center II at 3444 Briley Park Blvd. Ricoh expects to begin moving into the space in June.
Financial terms of the transaction were not released. The move will allow the West Caldwell, NJ-based company to consolidate two existing out-of-state parts distribution operations and move them to Nashville. From its new location, the company will distribute replacement parts for copiers and other products throughout the eastern US. The western parts distribution location is in the Los Angeles area. About 50 people will be employed at the new location.
“We selected Nashville with the help of some outside consultants who all told us that Nashville would be an ideal location for our eastern parts distribution operations,” says Ricoh Corp. director of business development Peter Heinsohn.
Ricoh was represented by CB Richard Ellis first vice president Don Kent and vice president Clinton Gilbreath in the transaction. Martin Meyer, of ProVenture Commercial Real Estate, represented the landlord, Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. With the lease, Nashville Business Center II is 100% leased.
“Ricoh chose this location in Nashville because of its geographic location and distribution capabilities,” Kent tells GlobeSt.com. “The company chose Nashville because it is central in the eastern US.”
The other tenant in the building is Hickory Hardware, which leased 303,000 sf in June 2006 and occupies 60% of the space at the building, says Jeff Palmquist, senior vice president of Duke’s Nashville operations.
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce director of business recruitment Matt Largen and vice president of international business John Butler and the chamber’s 10-county Partnership 2010 economic development initiative have been working with Ricoh officials since November 2006 on the move.