Warehouses go up at airport; Investor puts up 14-building complex in Bullhead

By Ric Swats

River Cities Business Journal

BULLHEAD CITY - The last sections of walls for the first two buildings of the Airport Corporate Center at the Bullhead City Airport were in place in less than three days of construction in March.

The two buildings are being built utilizing the concrete tilt-up format. Both buildings are intended to be warehouse space and will add more than 32,000 square feet of industrial space to the area's inventory.

The project is the first phase of construction of 14 buildings that will include warehouse, light industrial, office and retail space at the airport.

Phill Brack, who relocated his construction company from Southern California to Bullhead City about a year ago, built on his California connections to get the project underway.

A former business associate, Al Cordero, owner of Corbiz, LLC, decided to invest in the area with Brack as his company's builder.

“A trust was built in California and it extended out here,” Cordero said.

After investigating investment potential in the area he decided Bullhead City is a logical move.

“What attracted us is that this is becoming a destination. We see a lot of potential here,” Cordero said.

One of the two buildings worked on this week has 16,963 square feet and the other is 15,827 square feet.

The buildings were started three months ago.

The walls went up in three days and they are expected to be ready to open in three months.

The concrete tilt-up construction method utilizes pre-formed concrete walls that are then lifted into place by a crane.

The building goes from a flat site to having the walls up in a very short time.

The two buildings took 2,500 cubic yards of concrete and the heaviest panel weighed in at 60 tons. It took a 300-ton crane to lift the panels into place.

When finished the structures will feature covered loading docks; three-phase, 480 volt, 800 amp electrical service; insulated roofs with evaporative cooling; six-inch high-strength concrete floors and high-density sprinkler systems.

“There is no doubt in my mind this will be the nicest the Tri-state area,” Brack said.

Overall the Airport Corporate Center will take in the neighborhood of three years to complete.

“Right now we're concentrating on this immediately,” Cordero said. “The next phase is two, 10,000 square foot office buildings.

“We have plans to keep acquiring land in the area.”

Brack said his tilt-up buildings are one of the best commercial structures available.

“Resale numbers are much better than anything you could compare to it,” Brack said. “For big buildings it is cheaper (to build) than other types of construction.”

He said the move from California is working out well.

“Business is good right now for Brack Construction,” Brack said. “We have 1.7 million square feet in the design phase. It seems to be going more in the big box industrial commercial direction.

“I think it was a great move. I think we're going to be very successful at what we do.”