Blue Steel Development has acquired 309 acres in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and will break ground this quarter on Steel 64, a nearly 1.8 million-square-foot industrial complex located roughly 36 miles east of Louisville via Interstate 64. The Lakeland, Florida-based developer has set delivery for the fourth quarter of 2027.

The acquisition places a substantial speculative logistics scheme — a project built ahead of signed tenants — in one of the Midwest's distribution corridors. Shelbyville sits within commuting distance of Louisville, a metropolitan market where industrial occupiers seek proximity to interstate highways and central US population reach.

What does Steel 64 comprise?

The project will contain two buildings:

• Building 1: 1.4 million square feet
• Building 2: 362,909 square feet

Together the two structures bring the scheme to approximately 1.8 million square feet of gross floor area. Blue Steel has designed the buildings to serve a range of distribution, logistics and manufacturing users rather than a single occupier category.

What specifications will the buildings carry?

Steel 64's design reflects current institutional standards for big-box industrial product:

• Clear heights (the usable vertical space from floor to the lowest ceiling obstruction) of 40 feet and 36 feet across the two buildings, dimensions suited to high-bay racking in modern distribution operations.
• A dedicated trailer drop yard adjacent to Building 1, allowing carriers to stage trailers independently of dock doors.
• Double-row trailer parking for Building 2, doubling trailer capacity relative to a single-row layout.

The trailer provisions signal that Blue Steel expects high-throughput distribution users, for whom trailer storage capacity often determines site selection as much as square footage does.

Who is on the project team?

Blue Steel has assembled a delivery team covering design, engineering, construction and leasing:

• Horton, Harley & Carter, Inc. — architect
• Land Design & Development Inc. — civil engineer
• The Conlan Co. — general contractor
• CBRE — leasing agent

How is the development financed?

David Collie and Josh Tarpley of BWE arranged construction financing through Protective Life Insurance Co. The involvement of an insurer as lender reflects a common structure in industrial development, in which life insurance companies provide fixed-rate debt on well-specified logistics schemes.

Construction financing closes the capital stack ahead of the ground-breaking, which is slated for this quarter. With delivery targeted for the fourth quarter of 2027, Steel 64 adds a large block of new supply to the Louisville-area industrial market, where developers continue to bet on sustained demand from distribution, logistics and manufacturing tenants.

Why does the location matter?

Shelbyville's position approximately 36 miles east of Louisville along I-64 gives Steel 64 direct interstate access, a prerequisite for regional distribution users. The highway connects the site westward to Louisville and eastward toward Lexington and the broader interstate network, allowing occupiers to reach a large share of the US population within one- to two-day truck drives.

For Blue Steel, a Florida-based developer, the acquisition marks a significant commitment outside its home market: 309 acres of land, two buildings totaling nearly 1.8 million square feet, and a roughly three-year development timeline ending in late 2027.