Fogg is building another large warehouse and distribution center near Seasons Road in Stow, its eighth large building on about 165 acres it’s developing there.
This one will be 250,000 square feet in size, with a total project cost of $25 million, according to the Summit County Development Finance Authority, which worked on the deal’s financing. Fogg confirmed the size but declined to reveal the building’s expected cost.
This new structure, in the vicinity near the Seasons Road exit for Route 8, also will be one of its largest to date.
“We’ve had a lot of success out there,” said Fogg Chief Operating Officer Mark Ray. “This building will put us at about 1.5 million square feet at that interchange, and we’re 100& occupied except for Seasons 7.”
Seasons 7, Fogg’s most recent construction at the site, opened early this year with 120,000 square feet of space. Ray said it typically takes about a year to fully lease a building at the site.
Summit County Development Finance Authority President Rachel Bridenstine said the project is being financed through Dollar Bank with capital-lease financing that will enable Fogg to avoid paying 50% of the sales tax on materials it uses in the construction of the new building. That financing closed on May 12, she said.
“Work has already begun at the new building site,” Ray said.
“We’re pushing dirt right now and pre-cast (concrete) will be going up in mid-June and we’ll go vertical then. The goal will be to have the shell complete by the end of 2025,” Ray said.
Fogg hopes to have lined up tenants and begun working on tenant improvements at the site by then, with the first occupants moving in early in 2026. Like the other buildings the developer has build on spec, not with a tenant lined up in advance, and the space can be divided as needed.
The company has had little trouble leasing space at its other buildings on or near Seasons Road, Ray said, possibly due to the low vacancy rate for newer industrial space, which generally is in the single digits across Northeast Ohio.
Fogg might not be done either. It has about 160 acres on both sides of Route 8 in the Seasons Road area, which was primarily woodland just a few years ago before development started. Ray said it has room to put up about 500,000 to 600,000 square feet of additional space in two or three buildings on the site.
“We have room on the west side of Route 8 for another 120,000-square-foot building, and for 250,000 to 400,000 square feet at the end of Gray Lane,” Ray said, referring to a road inside its development on the east side of the highway.
The company’s developments there have brought both construction and permanent jobs, as well as the new buildings to the city of Stow and its tax base. The city has been very pleased with what Fogg has done so far, said Stow Planning and Development Director Zack Cowan.
“The city is pleased,” Cowan said. “Fogg has been great to work with and we’re happy to see them building more.”
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