Big Industrial buys former Bridgestone Firestone plant

Big Industrial LLC, a national industrial property developer headquartered in Prairie Village, Kan., purchased the vacant Oklahoma City Bridgestone Firestone industrial plant on December 20. The company plans to renovate the property and lease it to companies that need industrial warehouse, distribution or general manufacturing space.

“The Bridgestone/Firestone property has some very unique advantages, including being in the rapidly growing primary industrial corridor in Oklahoma City near the crossroads of I-35 and I-40,” said Daniel E. Smith, principal of Big Industrial, LLC. “We expect to attract businesses from not only Oklahoma but across the country with more than two million square feet of industrial space that can be finished for individual company requirements.”

The Bridgestone/Firestone plant closed its Oklahoma City doors in December 2006, displacing about 1,700 workers.

Renamed the Will Rogers Business Park, current zoning will accommodate all industrial users and offer a large amount of contiguous square feet that can be subdivided down to 25,000 square feet and finished to suit. With 24-foot ceilings, truck bays, loading docks, and on-site rail access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, the space likely will attract new or expanding industrial businesses. There are 310 acres of land on the property, half of which could be available for new construction. Additionally, there is an on-site, co-generation, natural gas-fired power plant owned by PowerSmith. Tenants may qualify for subsidized heating, cooling, process energy or steam. The owners expect to lease space in the Will Rogers Business Park for $1.99 to $3.50 a square foot.