SAVANNAH, Ga. — Duke Realty Corp. has signed a long-term lease with SOFAMANIA, a manufacturer and distributor of fine home furniture. The manufacturer will occupy 322,500 square feet of space at 175 Portside Court in Savannah. The 600,000-square-foot logistics building is located at the intersection of Interstate 95 and GA 21, which is near both the Port of Savannah and Interstate 16. Steve Grable of JLL represented SOFAMANIA, while Brian Sutton provided in-house representation for Duke Realty in the lease transaction. This lease brings Duke Realty’s year-to-date leasing volume in the Savannah market to 2.4 million square feet and occupancy in its 7 million-square-foot portfolio to 100 percent.
SEATTLE — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured a $60 million first-mortgage loan for SoDo Portfolio, an group of industrial properties in Seattle. The name of the borrower was not released. Encompassing 12.7 acres, the portfolio totals 11 buildings offering mixed-use industrial space. Josh Berde of Key’s Commercial Mortgage Group arranged the non-recourse, fixed-rate financing, which features a five-year term. A life company provided the funds.
SAN DIEGO — A joint venture between Sunroad Enterprises and Majestic Realty Co. has broken ground on Majestic Sunroad Center, an industrial park located in San Diego’s Otay Mesa neighborhood. Majestic Sunroad Center will comprise three buildings offering a total of 227,000 square feet of Class A industrial space with first-rate amenities and design features. The buildings will feature 30-foot clear heights, cross-dock loading, LED lighting, ESFR fire protection and secured truck courts. Situated on a 16-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Otay Mesa and Otay Mesa Center roads, the project is slated for completion in 2019.
WEST CHICAGO, ILL. — The DuPage Airport Authority (DAA) has secured three new tenants for its 800-acre DuPage Business Center in West Chicago. Suncast Corp., a custom wood structures and resin products manufacturer, signed a long-term agreement with developer Pritzker Realty Group to lease a 782,000-square-foot facility. The $4.9 million development will enable Suncast to consolidate its Batavia and Montgomery locations into a new warehouse spanning 40 acres. Norix Group Inc., a manufacturer of contract furniture designed for continuous-use environments, signed a $2.7 million agreement to build a new 200,000-square-foot headquarters on 22 acres. Soltys Design Build LLC is serving as the general contractor. Lastly, Greco and Sons Inc., an Italian foods distribution company, signed a $6.2 million agreement to build a new food processing and warehouse center. The DuPage Business Center is one of three entities owned and operated by the DAA. NAI Hiffman is marketing the property for lease. The property is on track for 70 percent occupancy in 2019.
OMAHA, NEB. — Bellomy & Co. has arranged the sale of Cornerstone Storage in Omaha for an undisclosed price. Located at 6099 Irvington Road, the self-storage property includes 433 units within 83,950 net rentable square feet. The 13-story building sits on 7.9 acres. Bill Bellomy and Michael Johnson of Bellomy & Co. represented the Omaha-based sellers. The team also procured the buyer, StorageMart. This will be StorageMart’s fourth location in the area.
Less than 100 miles along Interstate 35 separates downtown Austin from downtown San Antonio. But thanks to strong job and population growth throughout the region, that short stretch is becoming home to two industrial markets that occupy distinctively different, yet thriving, niches in the local economy. The CliffsNotes version of this story is that Austin is trending toward servicing smaller, local tenants with ties to the tech sector, while San Antonio is moving toward being a regional distribution market for larger, nationally known users. Both markets are tight: the vacancy rate for both Austin and San Antonio is between 5 and 6 percent and both are seeing very healthy tenant demand and absorption of many current and planned developments. But to understand how the markets have come to function so differently from one another, we must consider the key driving factors in each metro. Austin: Access & Availability Developing new industrial space in Austin — an industrial market with about 79 million square feet of product, according to JLL’s research — is rife with challenges. The entitlement and zoning processes are exceptionally time-consuming, and most infill land sites are priced at levels that make new construction economically implausible. But the …
CRANSTON, R.I. — Sweeney Real Estate has brokered the $1.7 million sale of a 25,548-square-foot industrial building in Cranston. Located at 25 Slater Road inside the Howard Industrial Park, the property sits on nearly two acres. Thomas O. Sweeney and Kevin Casey of Sweeney Real Estate represented the seller, Alves Properties LLC, in the transaction. The buyer was G3 Slater Road LLC.
HOUSTON — Clay Development & Construction Inc. will build Sheldon Distribution Center I, a 214,300-square-foot industrial property in Houston. The property, which is being developed on a speculative basis, will be situated on an 11.2-acre site that allows for expansion of up to 385,000 square feet. Building features will include 32-foot clear heights, 44 dock-high doors, a 135-foot truck court, 104 employee parking spots and the option of 29 trailer parking spots. The groundbreaking is scheduled for Dec. 1 and completion is slated for the second quarter of 2019. Frost Bank provided construction financing for the project. NAI Partners will lease the property.
There is no question that all signs are pointing in the right direction for the nation’s second-largest industrial market. Midway through the year, the vacancy rate has stabilized below 7 percent for the first time in over a decade. On top of that, quarterly deliveries totaled 4.5 million square feet, of which 3.9 million square feet was speculative. In the second quarter, 7.9 million square feet was absorbed. So what’s next for Chicago’s industrial occupiers? Luckily there are two seasons in Chicago, winter and construction. With that, state and federal agencies are collaborating on massive transportation infrastructure improvements, and funds continue to flow to improve and expand our region’s road and rail infrastructure. In addition, the Illinois Tollway has been proactively deploying capital for projects. As a result, industrial occupiers are benefitting from an enhanced flow of goods and more efficient distribution, while the industrial development community has responded with new speculative and build-to-suit projects in key areas to take advantage of these transportation improvements. I-57 Corridor Before 2014, there wasn’t a full four-way interchange at I-57 and I-294, which represented one of the few rare nodes in the nation where two interstates crossed paths but did not allow a …
SWEDESBORO AND LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has negotiated a pair of industrial leases totaling 331,794 square feet in New Jersey. In the first deal, UPS renewed its 251,044-square-foot lease at 200 Birch Creek Road in Swedesboro. In the second transaction, Ryder Logistics signed an 80,750-square-foot lease at 395 Pedricktown Road in Logan Township. Both cities are located about 30 miles south of Philadelphia on the western part of the state. A brokerage team led by John Gartland of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlords, both of which were undisclosed, in each of the lease negotiations.