Newport News, Va.-based plumbing supply giant Ferguson Enterprises Inc. is expanding to Birmingham with an eight-year lease for 63,200 square feet in the Oxmoor South Industrial Park on Oxmoor Court. Jack Brown of Graham & Co. represented Ferguson, which plans to move in this summer.

According to a Ferguson spokeswoman at the company's Virginia headquarters, the Oxmoor South facility will be Ferguson Enterprises' Alabama hub, providing HVAC equipment to Rheem distributors.

The largest of four main locations in Alabama, the hub is expected to be fully operational by the fourth quarter of this year. It will employ 22.

At Eason Graham's new spec project, Shelby West Distribution Center, meanwhile, the welcome mat is going out for Asset Management Solutions, which is planning to move from its current facility at Shades Creek Business Park.

Asset Management, a division of United Van Lines that stores and keeps computerized inventory for a wide range of businesses, owns a 60,000-square-foot warehouse in west Shelby and is moving to be closer to it, says AMS co-owner Don Hire.

The company needed the additional 3,200 square feet of warehouse space, he says. The AMS lease bodes well for the new building in Shelby West Corporate Park, just north of the Shelby County Airport off Interstate 65, says Mark Byers of Eason Graham. The new lease is the second deal in the 250,000-square-foot building and brings it to 50 percent occupancy.

The building was completed early this year, and its first tenant was AGC Automotive Americas, a supplier of glass for the automotive industry. Roughly $10 million was invested to build it.

The entrance of AMS leaves 133,000 square feet to lease at Shelby West, which Byers says could be filled by one to three users. Rent there ranges from $3.95 to $4.50 per square foot.

Among the attractive features of Shelby West are its proximity to Interstate 65, full tilt-wall construction, 30-foot clearance, rear-loading capacity, a sprinkler system, and plenty of parking for both trailers and employees. It is located within the Alabaster city limits.

Closer to Birmingham, Oxmoor South consists of four buildings within the Birmingham city limits that were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Also built using tilt-wall construction, Oxmoor South charges rents of $4.25 to $5.25 per square foot.

AMS' move will leave 60,000 square feet of space open at the Shades Creek Business Park, also an EG&S property.

Ogden Deaton of Graham & Co. is marketing Shelby West's main competitor, Shelby Commerce Park, which consists of four buildings totaling 1.5 million square feet on 92 acres. The park is on U.S. Highway 31 off I-65.

In that park, a 247,000-square-foot building will become available when tenant Custom Marketing Services Inc. moves into its new, 575,00-square-foot building next door.

Built for approximately $45 million, the park offers class A bulk distribution space that's "comparable to any class-A park in the country," Deaton says. Rent there is $3.95 per square foot.