Article Courtesy St. Louis Post Dispatch Tim Bryant

TriStar Properties is building again at Gateway Commerce Center, where work is underway on two distribution centers with more than 1 million square feet.

Both buildings will be built on spec, meaning that TriStar has yet to obtain tenants. Teamed with TriStar to fund the projects with a combined cost of $49 million is PCCP LLC, a Los Angeles-based real estate finance and investment management company.

One of the structures, Gateway East 618, will have 618,450 square feet on a 53-acre site. The second building, Gateway East 513, will put 513,760 square feet under roof on a 46-acre site. Each building could be expanded later to have more than 1 million square feet, TriStar said.

Michael Towerman, president of Earth City-based TriStar, said the distribution centers should produce at least 500 jobs once they’re up and running.

The 618 building will be ready for occupancy in late summer with the 513 building being ready for tenants this fall, said Ed Lampitt, managing director of the St. Louis office of Cushman & Wakefield, the leasing agent.

“Our rationale in beginning a pair of buildings simultaneously is to cut a broad swath in the marketplace,” Lampitt said in a statement. “We want to offer prospective national tenants a choice — and an excellent match — in their pursuit of highly efficient and expandable bulk space configurations.”

Gateway Commerce, near Edwardsville, already has 15 distribution centers with nearly 11 million square feet.

With TriStar on the 618 and 513 buildings are Contegra Construction, Gray Design Group and Stock & Associates Consulting Engineers Inc.

PCCP and TriStar worked together at Gateway Commerce in 2014, when they developed a 673,137-square-foot distribution center occupied last year by Florida-based third-party logistics provider Saddle Creek Corp. The $26 million structure was the first speculative industrial building erected in the St. Louis area since 2007, TriStar said.

Recently completed at Gateway is a $36 million, 717,060-square-foot distribution center on a 56-acre site. Lampitt said lease negotiations with potential tenants were underway.

Among other TriStar projects is the Residences at Sunset Ridge, an apartment complex being built in west St. Louis County on 11 acres northwest of Interstate 270 and Manchester Road.

The $49 million project is a joint venture with Propper Construction Services. The 254-unit apartment complex is part of a planned $100 million mixed use development featuring a hotel, office and assisted living facility.