Bay Area developer signs Toronto deal with Freightliner

Bay Area developer signs Toronto deal with Freightliner    San Francisco-based developer AMB Property Corp. Monday said it has leased 204,000 square feet of an industrial development in Toronto to Freightliner Canada Ltd., a DaimlerChrysler company and the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America.
   Financial details of the deal were not released.
   Located in the AMD Pearson Logistics Centre, the leased facility will serve as a truck parts distribution operation for Freightliner customers across Ontario and the U.S. northeastern region. Freightliner occupies the bulk-warehouse facility under a 10-year lease.
   'With a significant population base and proximity to the U.S., the greater Toronto area is one of North America's largest industrial markets, ' said Gene Reilly, AMB's president, North America. 'The automobile sector is particularly important to the area, accounting for nearly half of the region's exports.'
   In addition to the 446,400-square-foot building housing the Freightliner operation, the AMB complex includes a distribution facility totaling 205,500 square feet. Old Dutch Foods Ltd., a Canadian snack food provider, operates out of 78,000 square feet in the second building under a 10-year lease.
   As of March 31, AMB owned or had investments in properties and development projects expected to total about 128.2 million square feet in 40 markets within 13 countries.