THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS — David Alexander of Newcor Commercial Real Estate has represented Gus Kaiser in the purchase of 5.8 acres at 33127 Lois Lane and FM 1488 in The Woodlands. Scott Furches of RE/Max Hometown represented the seller, DRD Limestone LLC.
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Brown-Forman Corp., a Louisville-based spirits and wine company, has released 11 new renderings that detail its design for the new Old Forester Distillery, a 60,000-square-foot bourbon distilling operation and visitor experience located at 117 and 119 Main St. along Louisville’s historic “Whiskey Row.” Brown-Forman expects to produce 100,000 cases of Old Forester, a 146-year-old bourbon brand, annually at the new operation. Old Forester Distillery is scheduled to be complete by late 2017.
DALLAS— Cotton Holdings Inc., a Katy-based infrastructure support services company providing property restoration and recovery construction, has leased a freestanding 62,932-square-foot office/warehouse space in Dallas. The space is located at 8400-8500 John Carpenter Freeway (US-183) at Empire Central Drive, and will be the site of a new location for Cotton Holdings. Matthew Rosenfeld of The Weitzman Group handled negotiations for the landlord. Cotton Holdings was represented by Alexis Martinez of Rubicon Representation. In addition to property restoration and recovery construction, Cotton Holdings provides roofing, consulting, temporary workforce staffing and housing and culinary services to public and private entities.
CHICAGO — A joint venture between Westmount Realty Capital LLC and Partners Group has acquired an industrial portfolio in the greater Chicago area for an undisclosed amount. The portfolio consists of 19 multi-tenant, light industrial facilities totaling approximately 1.5 million square feet. The portfolio is 86 percent occupied. The seller in the transaction was a large, institutional owner of industrial real estate. Within the portfolio, 14 properties are located near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The other five assets are located in Romeoville, Gurnee and Wheeling. Westmount will provide property management services, and Cawley Chicago will provide the leasing services.
WEST CHICAGO, ILL. — Owen Wagner & Co. has sold a 19,400-square-foot industrial property in West Chicago. Contract Flooring Service of Glendale Heights purchased the suburban property, located at 1185 Atlanta Drive about 35 miles west of Chicago, for an undisclosed price. Contract Flooring Service plans to use the freestanding building as the site of its new headquarters. Andrea Hauger of Owen Wagener & Co. represented the company in the disposition.
The commercial real estate market in West Michigan was quite active in 2015 across all property sectors, including one massive data center deal that is expected to spur billions of dollars in investment. Both new development and transactions involving existing facilities drove deal volume in 2015. Consequently, vacancy rates dropped while leasing rates generally rose. We expect a high level of commercial real estate activity this year as well. A lack of inventory for existing product will continue to drive new development in 2016. Industrial Strength The industrial market, in particular, has experienced a shortage of quality product to satisfy the demands of distribution companies from across the area. The greater Grand Rapids industrial market consists of approximately 115 million square feet. At the end of 2015, the vacancy rate was 4.1 percent. This marks a significant improvement compared with the depths of the Great Recession when the vacancy rate approached 10 percent. For the first time in years, we are seeing speculative development across all sizes of industrial properties. Lease rates for these speculative buildings are significantly higher than what we have experienced in the recent past due to the relatively high cost of construction. The good news for …
SAN ANTONIO — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of AT&T Distribution Center, a 131,755-square-foot industrial property located in San Antonio. Joshua Murphy of Marcus & Millichap’s San Antonio office marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a private investor. Jon Danklefs of Marcus & Millichap’s San Antonio office secured and represented the buyer, an individual/personal trust. AT&T Distribution Center is located at 827-829 AT&T Center Parkway. Built in 1975 on five acres, the property is adjacent to the AT&T Center in the northeast San Antonio industrial submarket.
CONCORD, FAIRFIELD AND FOLSOM, CALIF. — A partnership between Birtcher Anderson Realty and Merced Capital has acquired a three-property industrial portfolio in Northern California for $63.4 million. The portfolio boasts a total of 533,700 square feet. The acquisition includes the 204,726-square-foot Garaventa Park in Concord; the 228,133-square-foot Fairfield Corporate Commons in Fairfield; and the 100,832-square-foot Lake Forest Business Park in Folsom. The portfolio contains 18 industrial, flex and office buildings that are 85 percent leased to more than 30 tenants. Terry Daly of Cushman & Wakefield placed the debt for the buyer. The firm’s Steve Hermann, Robert Gilley, Brooks Pedder and Tony Binswanger represented the seller, Garaventa Properties, in this transaction. Pedder and Binswanger will continue to serve as the properties’ leasing agents. Cushman & Wakefield will also assume property management under the new ownership.
TACOMA, WASH. — Dermody Properties has announced plans to develop a 225,972-square-foot industrial facility in the Tacoma submarket of Fife. The property will be known as LogistiCenter at 167. It will be located at 7402 26th St. E. Construction will commence this spring and should be complete by September. Craft Architects is designing the building, while the general contractor is Poe Construction. Dermody is the project’s owner and developer. Vanessa Herzog, Patricia Loveall and Kraig Heeter of Kidder Mathews will handle leasing.
WHITEHALL, OHIO — Developer Mark F. Taggart Co. and contractor Fed One Dublin have broken ground on Phase I of a new 140,000-square-foot office warehouse facility in Whitehall, approximately 10 miles east of Columbus. The Air South Commerce Center will be situated inside the Airport South Commerce and Tech Center and is expected to be complete this June. The facility, which will be located at 265-285 N. Hamilton Road, will feature 28-foot to 32-foot clear heights, an ESFR sprinkler system, trailer parking and insulated concrete tilt-up panels. Continental Auto Parks has pre-leased a 50,000-square-foot space in the building and was represented by Matt Osowski of NAI Ohio Equities. Civista Bank provided financing for the project.