Tyler Scriven thinks Saltbox Inc. can be a partner to small businesses for their entire life cycle.
The Atlanta-based coworking and warehousing company opened in south Tempe earlier this spring in a 110,000-square-foot facility, at 910 W. Carver Road. At full-capacity, Saltbox can accommodate more than 150 businesses at a time through its warehouse suites, according to the company.
Scriven, the co-founder and CEO of Saltbox, said the company chose to open in Phoenix because of the Valley's rapid growth and a strong base of logistically driven small businesses in need.
"The reality of the matter is, oftentimes, small businesses may be very fluent in 'how do I create a product' and 'how do I find a customer' but often lack a degree of knowledge about their logistics operation," Scriven said. "It's important, as a partner, to interpret your needs and get to the right solution."
How the Tempe space operates
The majority of the Saltbox facility — 65,000 square feet — is divided into flex warehouse suites, with the remainder being collaboration space, conference rooms, flex storage, dock areas and photo studios.
A "couple dozen" companies are currently in operation in Tempe, mostly working in the e-commerce industry, Scriven said.
In the coming months, Scriven said, the Tempe site will have a micro fulfillment center to serve clients who outsource processing and shipping inventory to Saltbox.
Because most businesses are in the early stages of growth, the leases they sign at Saltbox reflect a need for flexibility. Scriven said those that sign onto leasing space at Saltbox are operating on leases that are month-to-month and up to a year long. Saltbox also offers small, medium and larger offices at its facilities that can serve a solo entrepreneur up to a small team at a time.
"Our effort is about enabling those companies through their entire life cycle. We can support them to a pretty meaningful amount of scale," he said.
Saltbox chose to locate in Tempe — as opposed to large industrial areas in the southeast Valley and West Valley — because many of its clients want to be close to consumers, Scriven said.
The ability for Saltbox to open a Tempe location came in part from the company raising $35 million in a series B funding round in November. Sister publication Atlanta Inno said the funding helped Saltbox expand into Miami, Minneapolis as well as Phoenix along with developing its logistics software. Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises Inc. and existing investor Pendulum, a California-based investing and advisory platform, co-led the round. Other investors include Playground Global, XYZ Capital, Fundrise, Kapor Capital, Wilshire Lane Capital, Colliers, Lincoln Property Company, Flexport and Overline.
Last summer, another co-warehousing company, Portal Warehousing also decided to set up a shop in Tempe.
Alex Morrison, co-founder and CEO of Portal, told the Business Journal he wanted his firm to act as a stepping stone to an entrepreneur growing his or her company to a point where the business could jump off and find and operate a full-time space.
Cushman & Wakefield's research in Q4 of 2022 said the investment sales market for industrial saw increased uncertainty, while concerns of overbuilding in the Valley have also increased.
At the same time, companies have continued to lease space in the Phoenix area. This will mostly be driven by the e-commerce, third-party logistics, semiconductor and related manufacturer sectors. The Valley had a 4.6% vacancy in industrial space in Q4 of 2022 while nearly 50 million square feet of space was under development, according to Cushman & Wakefield data.
