Central Pennsylvania, a Distribution Hotspot

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1 221 West Philadelphia Street Suite 19 York, PA

2 ABOUT ROCK ROCK Commercial Real Estate publishes a weekly column entitled MORETidbits which takes national news, data and statistics that are relevant to real estate, business, and economics and gives information a local Central Pennsylvania perspective. ROCK is an industry leader in Commercial Real Estate with core focuses on Brokerage Advisory, Management Solutions, Research & Mapping, and Strategic Consulting. Our mission is to deliver unparalleled commercial real estate services through a TEAM of professionals who focus on Thinking Ahead and Getting Results that create value, build confidence, and embrace personal relationships.

3 The news of new distribution centers making ir way into Central Pennsylvania is not new news. In fact, Central Pennsylvania has been known as a strong area for distribution for quite some time. The question is, why? What makes this area so special and unique that large companies such as Amazon, Federal-Mogul, Target, Nordstrom and ors would want to locate ir distribution centers here? There are several factors actually, some that may be very obvious, and some that may surprise you. WHAT IS THE KEY FACTOR IN PICKING A SITE FOR A DISTRIBUTION CENTER? This is probably most obvious answer - transportation networks. Transportation networks play a huge role in location of distribution centers, especially in today's day and age of fulfilling consumer's need of instant gratification. Distribution centers will want to be within a reasonable driving distance to major highways and interstates, rail, airports, and seaports. Strong transportation networks that not only reach farst distances, but those that reach large amounts of businesses and population will help to drive down cost of distributing product. Most notable, Central Pennsylvania has a strong transportation network. The highway system especially, that is accessible in area is in-part what makes Central Pennsylvania so attractive for distribution centers. Major roadways such as I-83, I-81, Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76), Route 30, Route 15, Route 222, and Route 322 are all connection points that become gateways into some of north eastern United States's most populated places. In a four hour drive-time from most points in Central Pennsylvania, you can reach areas such as Baltimore, Washington, DC, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. Access to se markets, gains you access to a number of major airports and seaports. WHERE ARE THE "DISTRIBUTION HOTSPOTS" IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA? If you were asked to look at map below and guess from which of se 23 points along Central Pennsylvania highways you could reach most population within a 1 hour drive-time, which would you choose?

4 The correct answer is: Shrewsbury, York County Within a 1 hour drive-time of Shrewsbury, you can reach just under 3.5 million people and 138,000 businesses (that's 83.5% more population than average for this data set). Shrewsbury ranks so high because within drive-time, you can reach all of York, Harrisburg, and into Baltimore. In fact, you could consider sourn portion of I-83 in York County to be a "distribution hotspot" based solely on se findings. The second highest point in terms of total population reached within a 1 hour drivetime is located about 12 miles north in South York at intersection of I-83 and Route 74 (South Queen Street). Although it's about 400,000 people less than Shrewsbury's drive-time, you are still able to reach over 3 million people within a 1 hour drive-time of this point. HOW DOES SHREWSBURY STACK UP TO OTHER U.S. MARKETS? As previously discussed, most notable factor of Central Pennsylvania market is roadway connectivity, but also its link to or major markets. Central Pennsylvania is literally sandwiched between Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore with access to markets such as Washington, DC, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, etc. Taking se factors into consideration, we wanted to know how strong Shrewsbury is exactly when compared with or markets across United States. The graph below displays total population that can be reached within a 1 hour drive-time of each of Central Pennsylvania points. Shrewsbury tops list with approximately 3.5 million people located within a 1 hour drive time.

5 HOW DOES SHREWSBURY STACK UP TO OTHER U.S. MARKETS? As previously discussed, most notable factor of Central Pennsylvania market is roadway connectivity, but also its link to or major markets. Central Pennsylvania is literally sandwiched between Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore with access to markets such as Washington, DC, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, etc. Taking se factors into consideration, we wanted to know how strong Shrewsbury is exactly when compared with or markets across United States. To test this question, we picked 20 markets across United States for comparison (NOTE: se markets were chosen based off of current distribution activity as well as ir location and proximity to or major markets). In this exercise, we took each of se points and applied a 4 hour drive-time (a 4 hour drive-time measures amount of distance that can be covered in a one day time period - 4 hours to drive to a destination; 4 hours to drive back home) and calculated total population within each of drive-times for comparison to same drive-time around Shrewsbury. Overall out of se markets, Shrewsbury ranked #2 behind Albany, New York. Within a 4 hour drive-time of Shrewsbury, you can reach just under 42 million people (81.1% higher than average for this data set). Albany only outranks Shrewsbury by less than 500,000 people. The graph below displays total population that can be reached within a 4 hour drive-time of each of points across United States. Shrewsbury ranks second behind Albany, NY with approximately 42 million people located within a 4 hour drive time.

6 The map above displays a 4 hour drive-time around Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania market. The map below displays points across United States that were used in comparison.

7 MARKET AND EMPLOYMENT BASE Anor key-factor for distribution centers is strength of current market and available employment base. Not only does Shrewsbury dominate Central Pennsylvania markets by total population and businesses reached within a 1 hour drive-time, but it also leads ors in total Warehouse and Transportation businesses and employees reached within same area. In 1 hour drive-time from Shrewsbury, re are 3,059 Warehouse and Transportation businesses (82.2% higher than average for data set) and 48,613 Warehouse and Transportation employees (52.6% higher than average for this set). ABOUT ROCK ROCK Commercial Real Estate publishes a weekly column entitled MORETidbits which takes national news, data and statistics that are relevant to real estate, business, and economics and gives information a local Central Pennsylvania perspective. ROCK is an industry leader in Commercial Real Estate with core focuses on Brokerage Advisory, Management Solutions, Research & Mapping, and Strategic Consulting. Our mission is to deliver unparalleled commercial real estate services through a TEAM of professionals who focus on Thinking Ahead and Getting Results that create value, build confidence, and embrace personal relationships. The The graph graph above above displays displays total total transportation transportation and and warehouse warehouse employees employees that that can can be be reached reached within within a 1 hour hour drive-time drive-time of of each each of of Central Central Pennsylvania Pennsylvania points. points. Shrewsbury Shrewsbury tops tops list list with with approximately approximately 48,613 48,613 transportation transportation and and warehouse warehouse employees employees located located within within a 1 hour hour drive drive time. time.

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