The tornado that tore through Whiteland last week ripped apart a massive warehouse, and the logistics parks owner is still assessing the damage.
Texas-based Mohr Capital bought the 475-acre land for Mohr Logistics Park in Whiteland back in 2020. The development company has since been building out the 10 industrial buildings set to fill the land along Graham Road between Whiteland and Tracy roads.
Mohr is investing over $350 million into the logistics park, and has $14.5 million in tax abatements from the town of Whiteland. Part of that investment took a huge hit when an EF-3 tornado ripped through the largest building in building in the park.
The tornado left a path of destruction through some neighborhoods along the south side of Whiteland Road before crossing over to the north, where its path went through Mohr Logistics Park and across Interstate 65.
It tore through an over one million square-foot building, splitting it right through the middle. The walls and ceilings of the building collapsed in on itself like a broken cardboard box, with the metal siding all twisted up in piles of rubble. Pieces of the building flew and landed all over I-65 going both directions.
The building with all the damage was labeled “Lot 6” on Mohr’s master plan. It had just finished construction and already had one tenant signed on to lease half of the building, said Gary Horn, chief development officer at Mohr Capital. Horn was in Whiteland until Tuesday following the tornado, he said.
The one tenant leasing Lot 6 had not moved in yet, so there was no equipment inside, and the building was empty.
Mohr is still investigating the extent of the damage, and what can and can’t be saved of Lot 6, Horn said. But he can tell the extent of the damage is “pretty severe.”
All the other buildings, including those still under construction, remain intact after the tornado. Nothing else was damaged too significantly, Horn said. Some semi-trailers that were attached to occupied buildings south of Lot 6 also sustained damage.
Horn expects to have more information on the extent of the damage and the cost in two to three weeks. The company expects insurance to cover the costs of the needed repairs or replacement of the warehouse.
The one signed lease for Lot 6 will remain, Horn said. Mohr also had another tenant in lease negotiations to occupy the east half of the building, and the company hopes to keep that as well, he said.
Horn does not expect the remaining construction timeline for the rest of the park to be affected. The park was set to be finished sometime this year.
