Construction has started on the 625,573-square-foot Building 9 at ProLogis Park 70 in Aurora.

Building 9 will be a national distribution center for Furniture Row Cos. of Denver when it’s finished later this year. Furniture Row owns the building and the 35 acres of land it occupies.

Furniture Row has more than 330 furniture stores in 31 states. Its stores operate under the names Sofa Mart, Oak Express, Bedroom Expressions and Denver Mattress.

Construction on the distribution center is under way, and scheduled to be completed in the third quarter.

Ware Malcomb of Los Angeles, one of this country’s largest architectural firms and a specialist in commercial buildings, designed the building. Murray & Stafford Inc. of Denver is the project’s general contractor. Read more »

One Liberty Properties Inc., a New York-based real estate investment trust, paid $51.2 million for 11 retail furniture stores.

The properties, comprising a total of 612,130 square feet, are in Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, One Liberty said Friday.

The properties are net leased on a long-term basis to Haverty Furniture Companies Inc.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Real estate investment trust ProLogis has leased its newly completed distribution center in Southern California to Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of home-furnishing products in the country.

Ashley Furniture signed a lease for a 683,000-square-foot facility at ProLogis Park Redlands, in San Bernardino County.

Denver-based ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) said in a news release that it’s the largest owner of industrial distribution space in California’s “Inland Empire” in and around San Bernardino County, with more than 65 facilities totaling nearly 25 million square feet. Read more »