Skechers will open a 1.8 million square foot distribution facility in Rancho Belago, a new community in California's Inland Empire. The new facility, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2009, will be highly automated, allowing the Company to receive, store, retrieve, pack and ship product through a high-tech material handling system. The Rancho Belago center will also allow the Company to centralize its operations from its existing five buildings in Ontario, CA.
“SKECHERS has been growing steadily over the last few years due to a greater acceptance of our product in the marketplace,” stated Paul Galliher, SKECHERS' Senior Vice President of Distribution. “This growth – from $920 million in annual sales in 2004 to $1.2 billion at the close of 2006 – has necessitated growth in our infrastructure and logistics – including our shipping and warehousing capabilities. With our planned highly automated single facility in Rancho Belago, we believe we can improve the efficiency of our logistics operations necessary to leverage our distribution center costs while meeting the increased demand for our product.”
Galliher continued: “We are very pleased we were able to secure an agreement with HF Logistics at their Rancho Belago development. The location is ideal and we were very impressed with the management team in the City of Moreno Valley. The city manager and his team have been extremely helpful and supportive.” Rancho Belago is managed by the City of Moreno Valley.
The lease agreement with HF Logistics/Highland Fairview, which was brokered by CB Richard Ellis, will be for 11 years, will commence on the date of completion of the facility, and includes options to extend by an aggregate of 14 years. Highland Fairview is a privately held real estate development firm specializing in large scale commercial and residential development.
