Sitework is already underway on a 57,750-square-foot warehouse tucked into the last open speculative site inside Lexington County Industrial Park, marking Charleston-based BEHKO Construction's first foothold in the Midlands. The building, known as Midway Flex Center, broke ground in late August at Charleston Highway and Foster Brothers Drive in West Columbia, with building construction set to begin next month and completion anticipated in early March 2027.
The project is a partnership between BEHKO and Magnus Development Partners, a privately held South Carolina-based real estate developer that operates throughout the Southeastern United States and beyond, according to Greenville Business Magazine. Magnus selected BEHKO to lead construction and provide structural and MEP design for the warehouse, with BEHKO working alongside Magnus, the project architect, and other partners to coordinate design and construction. Magnus itself handles architectural design, sitework, and utilities, and focuses on single-tenant build-to-suits, speculative industrial buildings, acquisitions, and advisory services.
BEHKO already has an established presence in Charleston and Savannah, and the outlet reports the firm is entering the Columbia industrial market with a growing presence in the Midlands, with plans to build a local team as its Columbia project base grows. Caroline Fawcett said BEHKO's in-house design capability was a major factor in selecting the firm for the Midway Flex project, according to the same report. Jordan Behringer said BEHKO needed a partner who could bring engineering and construction together and keep the project moving.
What Midway Flex Center Will Offer Tenants
The facility is engineered with 28-foot clear heights, ESFR sprinkler protection, trailer parking, dock-high loading positions, and drive-in doors, and its footprint can be divided down to 24,750 square feet, per LoopNet. Commercial real estate brokerage Colliers is handling leasing and marketing for Magnus on the project, led by brokers Chuck Salley, Thomas Beard, and John Peebles, according to the Columbia Star.
BEHKO leads building construction from the foundation and provides structural and MEP design, pairing in-house architecture and engineering with construction delivery. The company calls its integrated model build-ready, an approach in which design and construction teams work from the same set of plans from day one. BEHKO has used the build-ready approach on industrial and commercial projects throughout Charleston and Savannah, and per BEHKO, the method shortens the time between finishing a design and breaking ground.
A Park Built for Logistics, Nearly Full
Lexington County Industrial Park spans 290 acres in West Columbia and is expected to total more than 2 million square feet once fully built out. The park sits less than a mile from Interstates 26 and 77, six miles from Columbia Metropolitan Airport, and under 100 miles from the Port of Charleston, according to Lexington County Economic Development. Water and wastewater service comes from the City of Cayce, while Dominion Energy provides electricity and natural gas.
The park already houses more than 15 established tenants, including major facilities for Home Depot, Domino's Supply Chain, Kardex Remstar, Republic National Distributing Company, and Scholastic Book Fairs. Magnus Development Partners has delivered multiple build-to-suit projects inside the park and plans to continue bringing Class A product to the Columbia industrial market, per Lexington County Economic Development.
According to Lexington County USA, Saxe Gotha Industrial Park has 714 acres, a largest developable contiguous area of 68 acres, Intensive Development zoning, and is 9 miles from Columbia Metro (CAE).
Why the Timing Matters for Columbia's Warehouse Market
The push for new speculative industrial space arrives amid a documented shortage of modern buildings in the region. A Colliers market report found that Class A industrial vacancy in the Columbia area dropped to 1.98% at the end of 2025 as net absorption hit a record 1.475 million square feet, pushing Class A warehouse rents up 17% year-over-year, according to Who's On The Move. A separate Q2 2026 Colliers report cited by Columbia Business Monthly found the average vacant industrial building in the Columbia market was constructed in 1982, with more than 90% of vacant space concentrated in structures built before 2000.
That aging inventory helps explain why a modern, divisible flex building with 28-foot clear heights is drawing attention as it rises on the Foster Brothers Drive site. BEHKO is led by Managing Owners Jordan Behringer, P.E., and Razvan “Raz” Cojocaru, P.E., and the firm serves industrial and commercial clients across the Southeast, offering industrial facilities, warehouses, manufacturing projects, and commercial developments. The company has recent experience with speculative builds elsewhere in the state — in May, SunCap Property Group named BEHKO to construct a 119,600-square-foot speculative tilt-up warehouse at Ingleside Commerce in North Charleston.
For BEHKO, the Midway Flex Center project represents the next step in its relationship with Magnus Development Partners as the design-build firm establishes itself in a new market. Whether Magnus or Colliers has lined up pre-leasing commitments for the divisible space ahead of the targeted March 2027 completion remains unclear, as does the pace at which BEHKO intends to staff up its promised local team in the Midlands.
