Hillwood
Alliance Northport 5, new home of Läderach's U.S. distribution center.
Much to the delight undoubtedly of young (and fictional) Charlie Bucket, AllianceTexas will become the base of distribution for a Swiss chocolate company.
Läderach Chocolatier Suisse, a family-owned premium Swiss chocolate company with North American headquarters in New York City, will occupy a 42,282-square-foot distribution center at AllianceTexas.
The warehouse will distribute Läderach’s high-quality fresh chocolate to all retail stores in the United States.
“We are thrilled to welcome Läderach, one of the world’s best chocolatiers, to AllianceTexas and support their U.S. expansion with this new national distribution center,” said Samuel Rhea, director of industrial leasing at Hillwood, in a statement. “Premium products like chocolate have some of the highest speed-to-market demands in the food and beverage industry, and with the amenities of AllianceTexas’ unique multi-modal logistics platform, we continue to see rapid growth in an industry segment that has a long history within AllianceTexas.”
Läderach will occupy Alliance Northport 5, AllianceTexas’ emerging industrial sector located in Northlake, adjacent to Texas Motor Speedway. Northlake has become a sought-after destination for industrial end users, such as Walgreens, Crown Equipment, Smart Warehousing and Mainfreight. This sector has some of the lowest combined tax rates in Dallas-Fort Worth with direct access to Interstate 35W and Texas 114.
Läderach expanded into North America in 2019 to meet the growing demand for premium fresh chocolate. Läderach has 350 employees with a footprint of 40 stores from coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada, along with e-commerce. In Texas, Läderach has three stores — Stonebriar Centre in Frisco and The Galleria and Premium Outlets in Houston.
To ensure the freshness and high quality of its chocolates, Läderach says it has complete control of the value chain — from directly sourcing the cacao to making the chocolate in-house in Switzerland and delivering it directly to its stores and customers.
“We are committed to meeting the growing demand for premium fresh chocolate in the U.S., and this state-of-the-art distribution center at AllianceTexas provides us with more speed and efficiency to continue to expand our 60-year-old family business in the U.S. and meet this ambition,” said Nathanael Hausmann, president of Läderach North America. “Chocolate is best experienced when it’s extremely fresh and can awaken the five senses — an experience we aim to create daily at Läderach.”
JLL’s Jeff Feste, Fred Ragsdale, Blake Rogers and JM Priddy represented Läderach. Hillwood’s Reid Goetz and Rhea oversaw the lease negotiations in the transaction.