Construction is well underway at Frontier Elm Business Center, a ~210,000 square foot speculative industrial project in Fremont’s Warm Springs district. The project is scheduled for completion in 4Q23 and is located on a key section of Kato Road, a stretch of the I-880 corridor we like to call “Advanced Manufacturing Row” due to the impressive companies that call it home, including Tesla, Thermo Fisher, UL, Seagate, and Zoox. Equipped with 4,000 amps of power, substantial ceiling clearance, and mezzanine space, Frontier Elm is just the latest investment in Fremont for Link, whose Fremont portfolio now includes several industrial facilities in Warm Springs and Pacific Commons industrial areas. 

Notably, Link has already secured a new tenant for the entire project: RK Logistics Group, a Fremont-HQ’d third-party logistics (3PL) provider of supply chain solutions for the manufacturing sector. RK plays a critical role in supporting Fremont’s advanced industries, including operating foreign trade zones (FTZs) for the benefit of some of the City’s largest employers. The pre-leasing of the entire project is reflective of the continued strength of Fremont’s industrial sector in the face of changing macroeconomic conditions. 

Staff had the opportunity to view the initial concrete panel “tilt-up” of Frontier Elm on May 19. The tilt-up process is a major feat of engineering made possible by modern construction methods and technology. The crane used at Frontier Elm was a big boy called the Manitowoc MLC300 VP MAX. It’s what’s classified as a lattice-boom crawler crane and capable of lifting extremely heavy things—200,000-pound wall panels, for example. To hoist those panels, the MLC300 VP MAX at Frontier Elm was stabilized with 474,100 pounds of counterweight.