Panattoni: Constructing tomorrow's distribution centers

Jeroen Gerritsen, the Managing Director of Panattoni Netherlands and Belgium, reflects on his journey: “I am fascinated by creating things, ever since my days playing with LEGO. It’s about bringing visions to life.” A passion that drove Panattoni’s exponential growth over the past five years, evolving from a small team to a powerhouse of over 25 experts tackling complex projects.

Panattoni’s core mission is to develop high-quality industrial and logistics spaces that not only meet but exceed the expectations of their clients and end-users. As Jeroen explains, “We are pure developers; our primary drive is to transform land into thriving industrial or logistical locations, and we are always looking for new brownfield sites to unlock their full potential.”

The collaboration’s first pivotal project was in Moerdijk. “Moerdijk was a brownfield development,” Jeroen explains. “We transformed an outdated industrial site into a  modern logistics development. The new, sustainable building is  long-term leased to a prominent international logistics service provider.” NIBC’s understanding of the logistics product and their quick, reliable financing played an important role.

Roermond, another significant project, posed unique challenges with local regulations. “Roermond was my first acquisition at Panattoni,” Jeroen shares. “Navigating the strict aesthetics committee taught us a lot, and the end result was two beautiful logistics buildings. It was rewarding to see how we adapted to meet local demands.” Panattoni’s perseverance paid off with the successful development of two logistics buildings, each tailored to meet specific tenant needs.

One of the sites serves Cooper Surgical, a leader in medical equipment, while the other supports GXO, managing logistics for Reebok’s European operations. “What we’re proud of—and also really enjoy doing—is brownfield development; non-sustainable buildings are being replaced by new state-of-the-art buildings. This type of re-development is  complex; you have to coordinate many things at once to ultimately achieve a great end result. That’s exactly what we managed to do there, and in a very short time.”